Hygge please

The Scandinavians have been doing it for aeons – they hygge (different languages use different terms but “hygge” is the one that English speakers are most familiar with).

Hygge makes a space cosy and a wonderful place to spend a long, dark evening—and there’s a lot of scientific support for how the North people have been doing it for generations, long before there was much of what we currently think of as “science” even around.

According to tradition, and to science, in a place where there’s hygge, there are:

• Cups of warm drinks clasped. Research shows that we think more positively about other people when our hands are warm, as they are when we’ve held onto mugs of something toasty.

• Candlelight and fire light are big in hygge spaces.Study after study has shown that we’re more relaxed, get along better with others, and are even more creative (which can come in handy on a long winter’s night when you have lots of time to fill) when we’re in light that’s warmer and a little dimmer, just like candlelight and fire light.  Also, watching fires in general is refreshing mentally.  Candlelight and fire light also create a light zone in a room, a sort of mini territory for all sitting “in the glow.” That sort of shared territory can help people bond with each other.  Darker and lighter areas in a room can also create the sort of prospect and refuge (view from a place that seems secure into the area beyond), that’s such an important tenet of biophilic design, and discussed at length in one of our earlier articles here.
• Soft textures, like fuzzy socks are rampant when there’s hygge, and we find being around soft things relaxing. And speaking of soft things – when we’re sitting on cushions we interact more pleasantly with other people and many hygge scenes include people sitting on cushions or comfortably padded chairs in front of the fires mentioned earlier.
• Also, there seem to be lots of circular tables and other curved forms and lines (say in blankets or on sweaters) with hygge and many studies have shown that seeing curving forms and lines relaxes us.