Everyone has different reasons for the way they decorate their home. Many people follow the latest trends or shop for the most affordable solutions to fill the space, but what if more people took their health into account when designing the look of their home? Here are four key aspects to consider when decorating your home to promote the health and well-being of you and your family.
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Color
Choosing colors that are considered mood boosters can have a significant impact on your mood and by extension your overall health. Cool colors, such as blues and purples, have a calming effect and are an excellent choice for bedrooms where your main focus is on sleep and relaxation. For areas of the home where you don’t want to feel sleepy, consider reds or greens: Green promotes concentration making it an excellent choice for a home office and red gets your heart rate up which might be just what you need in a workout room. Whites are great for kitchens and bathrooms as it provides a sense of purity and cleanliness.
Although following these general guidelines are a great place to start, it’s also a good idea to keep in mind the colors that flatter you most. If you look terrible in purple, then painting your bedroom or bathroom purple is a terrible idea. Choosing colors that don’t complement you, will likely affect how you view yourself as you’re surrounded by a color that just isn’t working for you.
Feng Shui
The Chinese have been abiding by the principles of feng shui for centuries. More recently, westerners have started paying attention to this idea of promoting healthy energy within your space by making simple adjustments to your home. Feng shui can be daunting at first, as no one wants to hear that their house is doomed due to things they can’t change. For example, having a front door that aligns with a back door is considered bad because all of the energy that comes in the front goes straight out the back. Luckily there are simple decorating solutions to remedy problems like this.
For instance, in the case of the aligned doors, feng shui experts recommend putting a round table with a fresh plant on it in order to capture and circulate the good energy that comes through the front door. Do your research and make small changes where you can and you will create a feng shui-friendly space in no time.
Light
Sunshine promotes happiness and health by providing vitamin D and contributing to your circadian rhythm, but not all areas of your home benefit from a lot of light, especially artificial light. Before electricity everyone simply went to bed when the sun went down or stayed awake by the dim light of a fire. Today we are overwhelmed with sources of artificial light which can actually be harmful to your health. It is a good idea to remove all electronic devices and harsh lighting from your bedroom and install light dimmers in all rooms of your house. Light dimmers are useful not only for winding down in the evening, but are also great for when you wake up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom or get a drink of water. By avoiding full light you will find it much easier to get back to sleep.
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Creating a Happy Place
Many of us associate certain places we’ve lived or visited with happy memories of childhood, travel or adventure. If you have a lot of happy memories growing up in a home with a red door then consider painting your door red. Each day when you walk through that door you will get a boost of serotonin as you remember a time in your life that brings you joy. Decorating with photos or artwork that brings up happy memories is another way to accomplish this mood-boosting effect. If one of the happiest times in your life was your honeymoon trip to Europe then don’t be shy about decorating an entire room with photos of you and your spouse from that trip, along with any special souvenirs you brought home.
The most important thing to keep in mind when trying to create your “happy place” is not to stress about it! To get started, pick one or two of the suggestions above, start slow, and hopefully you will notice a difference in your health and happiness in no time!
