Feeling comfortable at airports – the credit card pod
Many airports across the United States are adding soothing refuges, applying some of the principles of neuroscience-informed biophilic design that we discuss in The Space Doctors’ articles. Christine Chung (2024, “Now Arriving at an...
Choosing a New Place… The LONG READ
Relocating, changing where you live can be a jarring experience. There are all sorts of practical things that you need to figure out when you move – like the fastest route to the market...
Packing and Un-packing…
When you are getting ready to move, what should you pack first, unpack first, not pack at all? When you are getting ready to move the thought of getting everything you own into boxes...
Fix-it-up Timeline… what should you tackle first and why…
Even if you move into a brand-new home, one that has never been lived in by anyone else, you’ll need to make some changes before your new house becomes your new home. The first...
Managing your new garden…
If your new home has a garden, you may be wondering what you should plant. The Space Doctors talked about designing gardens where you can relax and have great times in this article. and...
Building in Privacy
If you were at all happy in your old home you had privacy when you wanted it. To be happy in your new home your need to make sure that you do. Privacy is...
Sleep Tourism and Cocoons! Environmental Psych in the News
It seems a lot of us are having trouble sleeping in our homes (see this article for neuroscience research-based insights on creating a place where people sleep well). So many of us are sleep...
Time Perception, Time in Nature
Correia shares that “There is growing evidence that nature experiences can influence human sense of time by (i) extending human perception of temporal duration and (ii) shifting time perspectives. People who spend time in...
Mental Health and Nature Access
Makram and colleagues “found that neighborhoods with a NatureScore of 60+ [0–100; low to high nature levels] had lower overall mental health utilization than those below 40. . . . This relationship persisted for...
Outdoor Views
As Spring moves forward across the Northern Hemisphere, you may be thinking of what to do with the landscapes surrounding your home. Neuroscience research has a lot of useful information related to this topic....
Harvesting useful Outdoor Scents
While you are planning your outdoor spaces, think about what they’ll smell like. You can harvest those smells through open windows and smell them directly when you are outdoors. Neuroscience indicates that the following...
Garden Design – Creating the Right Path
When you are creating paths outside through gardens, etc., or inside by arranging the furniture in your living room, you can choose options that are straighter or more curved. Should you go with something...
Battling Burnout with Design
Spring can often seem to be the season for burnout, the winter has been long, and just before the plants really spring back to life, our existences can seem bleak—and we all work too...
What you’re missing (maybe?!)
Dominic Lutyens in an article for bbc.com (“Inside the Homes That ‘Whisper Rather Than Scream Luxury,’” 2024, https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240208-inside-the-homes-that-whisper-rather-than-scream-luxury ) writes about the rise of quietly luxurious spaces. As he reports, “In his foreword to...
Sleeping in Cupboards
Think your sleeping situation is challenging? In days of yore, people slept in cupboards, as Zuria Gorvett describes in “The Strange Reasons Medieval People Slept in Cupboards (2024, https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240122-the-strange-reasons-medieval-people-slept-in-cupboards): “Otherwise known as a closet...
Lighting at home for Older Generation
Banerjee and associates determined that “better lighting at home was associated with increased physical activity at home. For every 0.1-log units increase in average home lighting, individuals took 5% more daily steps and had...
Clothes and Thinking
Horton, Adam, and Galinsky share that “Enclothed cognition refers to the systematic influence that clothes can have on the wearer’s feelings, thoughts, and behaviors through their symbolic meaning. It has attracted considerable academic and...
What should your furniture be made of? – The Long Read
After our houses and our cars, our furniture may be our biggest investment. Sofas, chairs, tables . . . none of them come cheap and modern life seems to require multiple pieces for each...
Specifically, what should your furniture, literally, feel like?
We tend not to think too much about what a design option feels like when we’re pondering choices available to us—but what we feel with our skin has a powerful effect on how we...
How should you arrange your furniture?
As with so many things, it all depends. How you arrange your furniture should depend on how you intend to use the space it’s in. Logic prevails. And try to invest in the bare...
What other furnishings are best for you and yours? Some links!
In previous issues we’ve talked about using mirrors in your home (here) and plants (for instance here), along with rugs (here), curtains (this article) and so many other things that are in the spaces...
Hygge forever – and that includes if you’re Scottish, Norwegian, Dutch or anything inbetween. The joy of ‘Cosycore’.
Holly Williams, in a recent post on the BBC (2024, “The Joy of ‘Cosycore’ and Hunkering Down,” https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240105-the-joy-of-cosycore-and-hunkering-down) reiterates just how wonderful a cozy, hygge inspired space can be at this time of year. ...
Smelling the right stuff, boots your mood!
When we’re spending more time inside our home can start to smell stuffy, particularly if we can’t open the windows because it seems hot or cold outside—and stuffiness is bad for our wellbeing, mood,...
Soundscaping for Better Moods
Your ears need a break! Every day they seem to be bombarded by the sounds of machines and other people that seem like they will drive you mad. But you can take steps to...
What are your most dominant senses?
We tend to focus on what a space we’re developing looks like and that can be a big mistake. For most of us, happily we have multiple sensory systems operating simultaneously and we’re pulling...
Nature Soundscapes – additional evidence
A team of researchers from the University of Exeter “analysed data . . . collected as part of the BBC’s . . . Forest 404. . . .Participants listened to a range of environments...
We prefer physical books and art
Groth, Block, and Newman state that “The explosion in digitization means that individuals increasingly have the opportunity to choose between digital and physical versions of creative works—for example, between eBooks and paperback books. However,...
Feeling with your Fingertips – the Long Read
Humans have lots of skin, with lots of nerves embedded in it. All those nerves are churning away, second after second, sending millions of impulses to your brain – giving you all sorts of...
Things we learned in 2023
In 2023, researchers have reported that: Symmetrical things seem more functional and reliable and asymetical ones more fun and exciting—useful information when you’re making choices. At-work sound volumes of about 50 dBA are best;...
Conversation Enhancers
As you move through the Winter months where you live, you may find conversations with those you’re “cooped up” with getting a little tense. Some science-based suggestions for smoothing your interactions with those you’re...
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