There is a strong connection between the human mind, body, and many external things, including your home environment. A calm and visually appealing home can improve your overall well-being compared to a chaotic and overly cluttered home. If you are among the 90% of Americans who spend most of their time indoors, making specific home upgrades can recalibrate your life and improve your mental health. Below are a few home upgrades that can support your mental health.
1. Add Soft Décor Items
Hard edges, bulky furniture and furnishings, and huge doors can sometimes make your home cramped and not welcoming. Softening your interior décor, especially in the living room and bedroom can brighten your home. The human brain prefers rounded and curved edges. Including them in your interior décor creates a calming and soothing home environment.
While at it, you shouldn’t forget the importance of modernizing your doors. Traditional bulky doors can make your home unappealing and unwelcoming. Modern doors, like doors from Doors Plus, have curved edges and soft finishes that create a soothing indoor environment.
2. Repaint Your Interior with Calming Colors
Colors are known to influence mood and mental health. You should take advantage of color psychology and choose calming interior paint colors. You can pick different colors that evoke different feelings for different rooms in your home. Muted colors, such as light blue, gray, and light green, have a calming effect and are perfect for individuals struggling with stress and anxiety.
Similarly, neutral colors evoke mild emotional responses and are a safe option compared to saturated colors. That said, don’t ignore personal preference when choosing interior colors. While blue might be your favorite color that makes you happy, it might be off-putting to others.
3. More Natural Light
While it might seem obvious, natural light is very beneficial for your mental health. Natural light regulates serotonin function, improves mood, and reduces the risk of stress, anxiety, and depression. While you can get more exposure outdoors, you can bring natural light inside through windows and other artificial sources.
If you rely on windows to let outside light in, maximize exposure to natural light by ensuring your windows are uncovered. You can redesign windows to accommodate larger models and use sheer draperies for privacy. Artificial light sources can supplement natural light for those who live in cold regions. Artificial sources, like light therapy devices, can improve mood, alertness, and productivity.
4. Improve Indoor Air Quality
If you are allergic or suffer from asthma and other respiratory diseases, poor air quality in your home negatively affects your health, comfort, and overall well-being. Fortunately, several home upgrades and practices can improve air quality in your home. They include:
- Use portable purifiers
- Add HEPA filters to your HVAC unit
- Use paint with low or no VOCs
- Introduce greenery into your indoors
- Clean air vents and fans regularly
- Upgrade your air filter every three months
- Open your windows if the weather permits
Endnote
Several things in your home can affect your mental health. For instance, clutter interferes with your ability to focus and increases cortisol and stress hormone production. Fortunately, these and other simple home upgrades positively affect your mental health.
