Your Home Choices Can Affect Your Health!

    Photo by: Hamilton Building Services


This day in age it's easy to get swept up in busy schedules, stress, and the seemingly never-ending list of tasks you have to do. While those things may be important, you can't forget the importance of YOU and your HEALTH and your HOME! Our living spaces truly do affect our health and there are actions that can be taken with our home to improve or hinder our health and it's up to us to figure out which is which!  We're talking about actions for BOTH our physical and mental health, which are equally important! Our physical health helps us get things done and be relatively okay in terms of sickness and injury while our mental health can sometimes dictate our physical health and our surroundings. After all, the brain is the most powerful organ in the body! 

Barbara Ballinger, freelance writer and author of several books on real estate, architecture, and remodeling, tells us important trends when it comes to your home. These trends include but are not limited to:

• BIPHILIC DESIGN 
• BETTER AIR AND WATER QUALITY 
• FOOD SOURCES CLOSER TO HOME 
• IMPROVED ARTIFICIAL LIGHT
• EMERGING "ME" SPACES 

With Biophilic Design, you want to have as much nature around you as you can. Whether it's building a new custom home or purchasing an already built home, check out the area around it. Does it have State Parks? Does it have hiking trails? Does it have waterfalls, rivers, lakes, or ponds? Does it have the ocean or a beach? Does it have mountains? Does it have wildlife preserves? 

If it's staying where you are, consider adding more aspects of nature if you find yourself lacking! Maybe this means planting more trees, adding shrubbery, planting flowers, creating a water feature, or more. You could even add pictures of nature scenes in your home! Nature is very calming for the soul and can improve how you feel which in turn, can improve your health and how you function. Think about it, the better you feel, the more apt you are to take care of yourself and have the motivation to do better! You may even inspire someone to do the same!

For the longest time, one of the main goals in home building was to make it as tight as possible, so that it would be easier to keep warmer or cooler. This is of course dependent on the season and your preference. The downside to that was that in some homes it was too tight so fresh air was almost non-existent, mold grew, and whenever certain products were used in the home that had any chemicals or toxins, they were getting in the air and staying there. This is why doing your research for Better Air and Water Quality pays off. It goes without say that the easiest way to reduce those issues, is to simply to really look into anything you plan on bringing into your home. These are issues you not only want to avoid for yourself, but for visitors and pets as well. Another thing to keep in mind that Ben Skoog, an independent construction consultant, says is;“When home owners make significant changes to their homes, it can impact the original design of the home systems and potentially compromise their integrity.” Now in the article, he suggests a few options to fix these issues though they aren't the most affordable. It's definitely something to look into and invest in, so if you aren't on that page yet, consider making small changes around your home to ensure better air flow and water quality such as opening windows when you're home and it's nice out and get products such as Brita filters. Those will increase your quality of living!

Food Sources Closer to Home is more than likely what you're thinking. With more people wanting to freshen up their yards, there has been in increase in vegetable and herb gardens, and even some fruit trees! This is exciting! With the right research and drive, you can grow quite a lot of healthy food and you'll know where it's coming from! Just take care of it!

One of the suggestions that is up and coming for Improved Artificial Lighting is to get temperature and brightness changing light bulbs. Yes, you read that right! These bulbs are said to be able to bring just enough warmth or coolness and light to make you comfortable. (Again, your preference.) They are going to be a little more expensive than regular light bulbs, but ultimately worth it in the end. We as humans need more sunlight than we realize so this could be a real game changer!

The last thing Ballinger mentions in her article is Emerging "Me" Spaces. This one is probably my favorite as I think time for yourself is extremely important. It's the whole idea of self love which is lacking terribly for many people in today's society! This space is entirely up to you and what you love but it's recommended that it's a room that'll make you feel calm, whatever that means to you. For example, in my "me space" I have the things to which I use and like most. I have my television, a comfy place to lay/or sit, salt lamp, Essential Oils diffuser, laptop, a book (it's always changing), and something to write in. Not to mention I always have some sort of drink  on my bedside table. What does YOUR "me space" look like?!

To read and learn more, check out the details in her article here! Thanks for teaching us a thing or two, Barbara Ballinger! 

Don't forget! If you want to create the custom home of your dreams, check out our website at https://www.hamiltonbuildingservices.com or give us a call at (607) 299-4838 to get started! We look forward to connecting with you!