Environment and Well-being
Environment and
Well-being
Do you have a special place that relaxes you? let us know and send us pictures!
Do you have a special place that relaxes you? let us know and send us pictures!
The environment in which you live and work can significantly affect your well-being. Your sleep, mood and general health can be improved of you make simple and effective changes to your work and living space.
Questions to ask yourself
Questions to ask yourself
- Whats your living space/working space like when it is working for you?
- what tasks may contribute to keeping your environment working well for you ?
- what helps tasks from becoming overwhelming?
"When a flower doesn't bloom, you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower"- Alexander Den Heijer
The Sainsbury centre for mental health suggests that there are strong links between ones tree and having access to green space.
Time "in nature" promotes recovery from stress and attention fatigue, and has positive effects on mood, concentration and self discipline.
Being "in nature" reminds us of our place in the world, where we come from, that we are just animals. Its simplicity and purity is a comfort to us in these modern times.
Spending at least 30 mins outside each day even on cloudy days can be enough to maintain vitamin D levels. Regular exposure to daylight can regulate certain hormones and chemicals that assist wellbeing. Scientists have found that exposure to sunlight through the eyes helps some people to feel better by affecting the activity of neurotransmitters in the brain.
Get Outside!
Plug into the "wild", breathe look from close to afar, engage all your senses. What can you see? smell? touch? hear?
Open your mind- lie on the ground , how does it feel below you? look up through the tree canopy.
Leave behind your phone, camera or any other distractions so that you can be fully present in this experience.
Practice mindfulness, focus on what is around you . wander aimlessly allowing your body to take you wherever it wants.
Pause from time to time to look more closely at a leaf or to notice the sensation of the path beneath your feet
Find a comfy spot and sit and listen to the sounds around you. Do the sounds of nature increases the long you sit there?
Enjoy nature its free!
7 Plants to Improve your Environment
Plants help to improve your health in many ways. They help you to relax, reduce blood pressure and also improve your mood. Research shows that simply being around greenery benefits your health significantly.
“Caring for a plant enhances our sense of well-being and connects us with nature,” - Georgianna Donadio, Ph.D.
Some plants are especially famous for their air purification capabilities and here are a list of 7 of the best.
1. Aloe Vera
Fumes from building materials, chemicals, paint, and even household cleaning products can make indoor air toxic. Aloe Vera is an easy-to-grow plant that is known to clean indoor air from formaldehyde and benzene, found in paint or chemical-based household cleaners. In addition to their air-cleansing abilities, the gel from Aloe Vera is also a powerful natural antibiotic and adaptogen. It can heal cuts and burns and also help your skin to cope with external changes.
2. Orchid Dendrobium
Orchids are beautiful flowering plants that are perfect for home decoration. They are stunning on your desk, windowsill, in your kitchen, or as a corner feature in any room. Most varieties of orchid dendrobium have a tall upright shape, making them a fantastic decoration. These plants need direct sunlight to grow, so make sure you have plenty of sun exposure where you place them.
Decorating homes with beautiful orchid plants is a trick used by interior designers for years. Orchid plants, apart from looking beautiful, clean the interior air of up to 89% of harmful VOCs like formaldehyde and xylene.
3. Spider
Spider plants are effective against toxins like benzene, formaldehyde, carbon monoxide and xylene, a solvent used in the rubber, printing and leather industries. These plants are resilient, low maintenance and pet-friendly. While their greenery is cheering you up, spider plants are quietly purifying your indoor air, supplying you with fresh oxygen.
4. Fern
Ferns are actually an excellent plant to have indoors. There are several ways that ferns can be planted and used indoors quite easily. They are excellent for getting rid of indoor pollutants such as toluene and xylene, which are found in many household chemical-based products, such as glue, paint and nail polish.
5. Bamboo palm
Bamboo plants are low maintenance plants that grow with minimum care. They grow very fast in any corner of your room, in any size flowering pot, with very little attention from you. Just place them somewhere that they can receive a few hours of sunlight every day. These plants are great for purifying your indoor air. They are especially great at removing formaldehyde, which is found in food preservatives and garden supplies.
6. Gerber Daisy
These are bright flowering plants, effective in filtering out trichloroethylene and benzene from the air. These chemicals may come in from your laundry or printed materials such as magazines or newspaper. These plants need a lot of sunlight, so place them in a south-facing location where they can be exposed to a few hours of sun every day.
7. Peace lily
Peace lilies are ideal plants to have in your home. These plants are powerful at removing a wide range of toxins from the air including acetone, alcohols, benzene and ammonia. These plants are also beautiful flower-bearing plants that look great anywhere in your home. They thrive at room temperatures below 55 degrees F.
Studies have shown that there can be many toxic fumes from chemicals found in your indoor air that can harm your health.
The quality of air in your home can influence your health, wellbeing and your mood. Placing plants in your home can naturally purify your indoor air and supply you with fresh, oxygen-rich air naturally while making your rooms beautiful.
