Natural Design for the Mind

-guest post by Julie Butler, Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying)

It turns out there’s nothing quite like a global pandemic to bring your home’s design under analysis.

Some of us had far too much time on our hands with far too little healthy distraction, while others were press-ganged into multi-tasking roles, rushing to remake their homes into classrooms and offices. In general, the unprecedented isolation and stressors aggravated anxiety and depressive conditions. Many reached out for mental health support for the first time, as Covid-19 restrictions undermined usual resources and means of coping with stress.

Consecutive weeks in lockdown prompted many of us to become acutely aware of our interior spaces, and to reassess how design either supports or challenges our mental health.

While, heightened awareness of our domestic spaces may be a somewhat novel product of pandemic living, scrutiny of the relationship of interior design and wellness is commonplace in institutional settings. In hospitals, patients and staff are frequently enlisted in research on how design can help or hinder healing. Particular research has been directed toward the impact of bringing plants and natural materials into healthcare environments. The results have been remarkably consistent. A Pakistani study by Khan et al. identified objective gains from exposure to plants in hospital wards including shorter postoperative stays, lower intake of pain medications, less stress fatigue, and improved vital signs; blood pressure, heart rate, respiration rate, and body temperature. Patients also reported stronger frame of mind regarding postoperative recovery, and they had more positive attitudes about their hospital stays. Recovery wards with plants were deemed more calming and satisfactory. The study’s findings have been replicated in several other studies, from Norway to Algeria.

The benefits of greenery have been emphasized in experiments focused on the impact of nature in community planning too. Ming Kuo of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign studied the effects of nature on humans. She reported that ‘greening’ of the area around the Robert Taylor Homes high-rise neighbourhood in Chicago, had significant impact; those buildings without trees and grass around them, showed social breakdown, evidenced by significantly higher crime rates. 

Similarly, Columbia University and University of Pennsylvania research on municipal ‘cleaning and greening’ in London, England studied neighbourhood pharmacies’ dispensation patterns. Neighbourhoods with more greenery, regardless of socioeconomic conditions, filled fewer prescriptions typically used to treat mood disorders, like anxiety and depression.

Researchers propose attention restoration theory, which says that when people don't have access to nature, they are more mentally fatigued… Given the amount of time we spend at home, it only makes sense to harness their insights in redesigning our home environments for improved wellness and satisfaction.

While all the reasons why natural elements are so beneficial may be unclear, one reason is certainly the opportunity to ground. Thoughtful attention to our sensory environment can essentially enable our time at home to serve as a grounding exercise. As a mental health intervention, grounding works on the principle that when the mind is attentive to sensory experiences, it spends less energy on ruminating or rehearsing, spinning in intrusive negative thoughts. We mindfully ground in the present experience. Thus, we can ‘get out of our heads’ and dampen the thoughts that feed anxious and depressive states.

We can also curate the contextual elements of our physical spaces. If what we see, hear, touch, taste and smell happens to carry a positive context, like a vacation memory, favourite food- or the human affinity for the natural world, all the better. Context is critical.

Sometimes, visual clutter is agitating and anxiety-making not in of itself, but because it carries the context of tasks unfinished and the burden of stewardship of all our ‘stuff’. Natural elements can contextually suggest freedom, newness, openness, and natural places we needn’t worry about managing. Natural elements can represent escape, and so, contrast the very feeling of constriction that breeds anxiety.

So, indulge the senses, and be mindful in your selection of interior elements, rather than settling for style by default. Allow yourself to explore designers and design trends informed by science and psychology, that tap the sensual experience of nature. Bring in the light, the plants, the natural materials, fibres, and textures. Treat your mind to a healthier home.

 

Julie Butler is a member of the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario and enjoys a professional practice at Grandi & Associates in Windsor, Ontario. Her previous career was as a visual artist and art instructor; she values the impact of esthetics on mental well-being, and often encourages her clients to mindfully change their physical space in support of recovery and maintenance of psychological health.