From helping you to relax to making it easier to cook nourishing meals, a healthy home is all about creating a space where you can feel your best.
If you enter your home and immediately feel unease or stress just from the sight of it, it could be time for a mini-transformation to align the energy of your space with the energy you want to be feeling in your life. (Especially since we’re all spending so much more time at home).
I’m sharing the 4 areas we’ve focused on in our home to create a space that feels like a mini-sanctuary and supports our daily wellbeing.
How You Can Create A Healthy Home That Supports Your Health
Just as we’re mindful and aware of food items we put into our body, the same should be said about the air we breathe, the cleaning supplies we use in our home and everything else that surrounds us.
Things that make our space feel more like a health sanctuary or a space that supports my overall wellbeing is a mix of items and actions.
I’m mindful of the energy I bring into my home — as in checking myself if I’m particularly stressed or anxious — that way, what’s coming into our space is more aligned with how I would like to feel.
Engaging in activities that you love are also key to making it feel like a retreat away from all of the stimulation and distractions of daily life. For me, this looks like cooking, journaling, meditating, practicing yoga, reading, spending quality time with my husband, hanging out with friends, tidying, painting/artwork, watching movies, anything that brings me joy.
1. Organization
I have a motto that’s “clear space, clear mind”.
The organization goes for your entire home, but especially your kitchen and your bedroom because that’s where you eat and sleep — two of the most important things that directly impact your wellbeing.
The French have a saying called “mis en plaz” meaning everything in place. This not only goes for your kitchen flow with having everything prepped, stocked, and organized from your food items to your utensils, but it also can be taken literally to every room in your home.
If your fridge is overwhelming bare or full of foods you barely consume, you consistently find yourself looking for the same kitchen tool because it doesn’t have a home yet in your kitchen flow, things aren’t easy to get, if it’s dark or stuffy, it can really impact your ability to cook or your ease in the kitchen.
Small things like that really impact both the function and the feel of the room.
I know for me, just having a really organized pantry, fridge, and kitchen make cooking so much easier. Everything is accessible, easy to find and clean up, and it removes any little frustration that might have happened which makes the entire experience easier and more enjoyable.
Focus on organizing your pantry, fridge, and cabinets so that you have all of the ingredients and tools you need to cook healthy meals for yourself.
Similarly in the bedroom, if you have clothes lying around, unfolded laundry, shoes, that can impact your ability to unwind and fall asleep. Give your bedroom that true retreat vibe by keeping it organized and free of clutter.
2. Quality and Impact of What You Own
There are certain things where quality really makes a big difference and impact on its functionality or purpose.
For example, if you have a low-quality mattress thanks to making you toss and turn all night, it may be time to save up and upgrade to a higher-quality bed. I love and highly recommend Avocado Mattress — it’s sustainably sourced, made, and it’s incredible!
The same goes for things in the kitchen. What tools or equipment do you use often that could use an upgrade? Or what things can you invest in that would make things a lot easier for you?
When you’re thinking about investment pieces, it’s not possible for the majority of us to just go out and buy a bunch of new expensive things all at once. For example, the Vitamix is a high-speed blender that’s an investment piece but so worth it!
So prioritize the ones that would make the greatest impact on your daily life in what you’re able to accomplish or how you feel, and build up these pieces over time as you’re able.
3. Create a Vibe
This is the fun part and something that can really influence your space, but not enough people really take the time to explore.
Beyond just organizing, you want to create an atmosphere that gives your home the energy you’d like, whether that’s cozy or airy or relaxing or uplifting.
From a psychological perspective, we know color alone influences our emotions and the way we perceive something including physical space. For example, did you know that blue-painted walls or blue elements in a room can actually create a sense of calm and ease? Or what about the color yellow which can make people feel happier or more alert?
Paying attention to your atmosphere helps make your different spaces more energetically aligned with your wellness vision and more enjoyable to be in.
This can completely vary depending on what intention you have for your healthy home and your preferences, but there’s a couple things I recommend that I think everyone can enjoy!
Natural Lighting
If you have a lot of natural light then utilize it! Natural light can be so peaceful, not to mention more economical versus having lights on all day. After sunset, we typically turn off all blue lights and switch over to beeswax candles (which seems quite primitive but amazing and cozy!). Or we turn on sea salt lamps which are a beautiful amber warm color which is more conducive to relaxation.
Plants and Nature Elements
Plants not only can improve the air quality, but they also bring a sense of nature and earth into your home which can be grounding and bring a little extra hygge to your space. At our nature home for example, we’re surrounded by plants and water living in the forest, but before that even living in the city we’d fill our home with as many plants as possible to change the energy in the room!
Scent
You can also use things scent to enhance your healthy home. Most candles and strong scents like perfumes can easily be a trigger for headaches for some people so we opt for essential oils. Regardless of headaches or smell sensitivities, most candles contain chemicals that can be irritating to our health over time, so opt for a simple essential oil blend which is also more economical in the end.
Coziness
Make things cozy with a couple fluffy blankets, your favorite pillows, weighted blanket, or a great soft rug. There are so many individual preferences for what defines “cozy” so adding more of those elements in your home can help you feel more relaxed and at ease. Things like this might make it easier for you to wind down at night or to follow a practice to reduce your stress.
4. Art and Decor
Decor and art play a huge role in our wellness vision from vision boards, art pieces we collect, to our own creative expression of art.
Art therapy was coined in 1942 and has used in psychology to help people express emotions, heal, to reduce stress, anxiety, depression, and cope with traumatic events in a nonverbal way.
Art therapy used in the clinical sense aside, hanging your favorite pieces of artwork on the wall, placing wood sculptures in your home, drawings from loved ones or yourself, or small trinkets that bring you joy can also make your home remind you of your wellness vision and of your health goals.
For my husband and I, art plays a huge role in our lives and it has since I was a young child! Both with doing art therapy when I was younger, to my teen years of having art be part of my daily life with painting and creating 3D art, to my adult life with an expression of all of the above including decorating our home to make it feel like ours.
Whenever I see art in our home, it not only changes my mood and emotions at that moment, but it also reminds me of the joy I feel when I engage in that activity and hobby!
Making your environment overall more pleasant and enjoyable to be in and also aligning its energy to match.
Putting These Healthy Home Tips into Practice
Overall, take a look at how your space is making it easier or more challenging for you to follow through on the healthy habits you want to create.
Ask yourself, what energy does this space need to have? What functionality does this space need to have? What can I do to transform it with the resources I have?
Outside of your environment, there could be other things that might be supporting you or blocking you in creating healthy habits.
The post Want to Create a Healthy Home? Consider These 4 Areas appeared first on Nutrition Stripped.
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