Wellness Design

Sylvie has her certification in Healthy Design.

“Design is about making people happy, either functionally, aesthetically, or emotionally.”
– Robin Siegerman

Wellness Design is the state of living a healthy lifestyle.

Healthy people will become a healthy society living on a healthy planet.

What is a Wellness Design?
Today’s society is filled with much more stress than in generations past. While stress is a primary problem, we also deal with lack of sleep, sedentary lifestyles, unhealthy diets, social isolation, pollution, and separating ourselves from nature. All of these things combined have a negative impact on our overall wellness. By having a home that supports wellness you’ll be able to set an example for your family and your grandkids to follow, impacting their wellness too.

In my opinion, stress is the number one problem. People are overly stressed physically, emotionally and intellectually. Generally speaking, our amount of stress is determined by how we perceive things and situation. So it’s important to fix what you can and adapt your thinking so you can live with the things you can’t change. So it’s important to ask yourself, “How can I remove stress where I spend the majority of my time – in my home?”

A healthy home should provide you with more energy, make you happy, and reduce the amount of stress you feel. It should encourage a healthier lifestyle for our bodies, our minds and our planet.

While I’ve always been an active person, I had to take my wellness to another level when I was diagnosed as pre-diabetic 10 years ago. I decided to make big changes to the way I eat, to exercise more, to meditate daily, and practice mindfulness as much as possible.

In learning how to improve my own routine, I uncovered barriers in home design that work against healthy lifestyle choices. I found that a few simple adjustments could make people healthier, more active, less stressed, and much happier.

Wellness Design

Wellness Design is the state of living a healthy lifestyle.

Healthy people will become a healthy society living on a healthy planet.

What is a Wellness Design?
Today’s society is filled with much more stress than in generations past. While stress is a primary problem, we also deal with lack of sleep, sedentary lifestyles, unhealthy diets, social isolation, pollution, and separating ourselves from nature. All of these things combined have a negative impact on our overall wellness. By having a home that supports wellness you’ll be able to set an example for your family and your grandkids to follow, impacting their wellness too.

In my opinion, stress is the number one problem. People are overly stressed physically, emotionally and intellectually. Generally speaking, our amount of stress is determined by how we perceive things and situation. So it’s important to fix what you can and adapt your thinking so you can live with the things you can’t change. So it’s important to ask yourself, “How can I remove stress where I spend the majority of my time – in my home?”

A healthy home should provide you with more energy, make you happy, and reduce the amount of stress you feel. It should encourage a healthier lifestyle for our bodies, our minds and our planet.

While I’ve always been an active person, I had to take my wellness to another level when I was diagnosed as pre-diabetic 10 years ago. I decided to make big changes to the way I eat, to exercise more, to meditate daily, and practice mindfulness as much as possible.

In learning how to improve my own routine, I uncovered barriers in home design that work against healthy lifestyle choices. I found that a few simple adjustments could make people healthier, more active, less stressed, and much happier.

Sylvie has her certification in Healthy Design.

“Design is about making people happy, either functionally, aesthetically, or emotionally.”
– Robin Siegerman

You don’t need to make big, radical changes. Little steps will go a long way. Applying small changes now will make a big differences later. Think of it as investing in prevention now so you don’t have to pay for doctors and pills later.

Wellness Home Design includes:

Healthy design

Universal design

Aging in place design

Biophilic design (bring the outdoor inside)

Green or environment Design

Technology

New minimalist

Not sure where to start? Here some ideas:

Creating a healthy home is a process. I work regularly on making my house healthier.

Air filter for the whole house
Good insolation and ventilation
Sound absorption in open concept kitchen
Quiet appliances
Water filter system for the whole house
More windows to bring the outside in, connect with nature, and add more natural light
More live plants rather than artificial ones
Well organized and clean spaces
Uncluttered, just keep functional items and things that make you happy. Minimalist design. Less is more.
Technology products that works for us not against us
Pleasurable smells with essential oils, wax candles, ect
No toxic cleaners or materials
Real indoor plants and flowers
Safe and adaptable spaces for all ages

Efficient and pleasant for making healthy meals. Good nutrition and hydration. The kitchen should encourage activities that reunite family and friends to create nice memories.

“Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food”
– Hyppocrates

Filtered water faucet
Good ventilation with hood
Well organized to make it easier to cook and clean
More refrigerator space for fresh food storage and healthy ingredients
Steam oven to replace your microwave
Play your favorite music to relax or energizing you.
Electronic devices to keep track of new recipes on the internet
Tea, coffee or juice station
Use smaller plates to help control the portion sizes
Organize pantry and fridge for easy access
Display bowls of fruits, nuts to inspire you when you want a snack
Under cabinet lighting
Food preservation storage
Composting and recycling
Plumbing, appliances, lights technology
Quiet appliances
Energy saving appliances fixtures
Design to encourage socializing
Indoor growing herb station, plant and flowers

The bathroom is where you set yourself up for a successful day, and it’s where you wind down for a restful evening. But how can you improve this space to improve your life?

Filter your water: You’ll really notice the effects of a whole-house water filter in the shower or tub. You thought it was just when drinking water right? Filtering will remove chemicals that would otherwise strip your hair and skin of necessary natural oils.
Improve your ventilation: Bathrooms can breed bacteria if they aren’t properly ventilated, affecting your lungs and stimulating allergies. “Good ventilation prevents mold. Leave the toxic air outside and remove the toxic air inside.
Install a steam shower: “A steam shower with aromatherapy will help to relax the mind and body after a hard day. Steam showers help with congestion, reduce stress, clear your pores, and relieve muscles after exercise.
Sauna
Aromatherapy
Color therapy
Seat bidet
Hydrotherapy tub with air or water jet and microbubbles
Grout for tile that doesn’t require sealing
Heated floor
Curbless shower
Water saving plumbing fixtures

This place should be just for relaxing and replenishing with the best possible sleep (and making love). I know it may seem impossible, but if you’ll be amazed at how much more restful your sleep will become.

Keep bedrooms tech-free: No electronics. No phone, television, tablets or laptops.
Keep the room as dark and quiet as possible to help you sleep better and let your body heal itself.
Blackout shade on windows
Cooler room with light or heavy blankets
As little noise as possible (quality windows will help)

Your specialty room can be for exercising and/or relaxing. If a spare room isn’t available you can create a special area in an existing room and designate it as your “stress reduction zone”.

Examples of how to use this space include:

Meditation
Yoga/Pilate
Weight training
Cardio workouts
Reading inspirational book or magazines
Listening to Music

Create a room that will be functional for your needs that’s pleasing to the eye so you will want to go and move your body, re-energize, or calm your mind.

Unplug for your digital devices for 10 minutes a day when you enter the space. If you can do it first thing in the morning the rewards will be even greater

If you work from home your home production area should be separate from the rest of the home so you can separate your work from your personal life.

Windows to bring the outside inside and natural light
Efficient cabinets storage and surfaces
Good lighting for task
Good filter air
Aromatherapy
Color therapy
Noise reducing
Stand up desk
Ergonomic chair or chair ball
Plants

If you don’t have a room inside the house, you might consider putting your office in your back yard by using a “home office shed”. This could be pre-fabricated or a custom build.

Water feature
Plants and flowers
Fireplace
Good lighting
Outside kitchen
Cover shade and sunny area
Birds, butterflies feeder and bath

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Don’t forget your outdoor kitchen!

Let Sylvie Meehan add usable square footage to your home by doing some interior design on your exterior kitchen. You’ll have more fun than ever cooking in your custom-designed garden area gourmet kitchen. Your barbecues and garden outdoor parties will never be the same.

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The four keys to making your home healthier include:

1. Reduce stress (kitchen, bathroom, whole house)
2. Better sleep (bedroom)
3. Good nutrition and hydration (kitchen)
4. Exercises and relaxing (special room)

Combine these with using environmentally friendly materials, adapting your home for aging in place, bringing some of the outside inside, and the use of modern technology; and you’ll have a home designed for maximum wellness.

Click Here to Read About the Latest Global Wellness Trends