Adding Water

Water can be a great addition to an interior space—not the random water burbling in through a broken pipe or flooded field—but water in a gently moving desktop fountain or in an aquarium stocked with fish.

We even get a big jolt of feel-good juice in our brains from seeing some water in nature scenes in photos and paintings on our walls and elsewhere.  Those photos, etc. are both calming and mentally refreshing, as discussed in this article.

Both hearing and or seeing gently moving water inside is tremendously calming, a nearly magical potion for helping keep stress levels in check and our brains working well.  Desktop fountains should feature gently burbling water, not shooting sprays—those don’t have nearly the psychological value as quieter less dramatic bits of moving water.

Having water in a space is a principle of biophilic design, described in detail here. 

When we see fish moving about in an aquarium we are physically and mentally refreshed and more relaxed/calmer (as a matter of fact, even looking at an aquarium without any fish in it can be good for our state-of-mind).  It’s best when there are a few different fish in the aquarium, but even limited fish are mentally useful to us.

Adding some peacefully moving water (visually and acoustically, with and without fish) inside is adding the potential for higher levels of wellbeing and cognitive performance.