If you’re making 2018 the year for improving aspects of your health and well-being, then you should think about wood. Many people have forgotten just how beneficial wood is to our health and atmosphere. It has important calming properties that can improve people’s moods whether outside in nature or in the built environment. Here are some interesting facts about the health benefits of wood:
Every year we spend 90% of our time inside buildings or vehicles and yet buildings are still being designed and built that cause issues such as Seasonal Affective Disorder and depression. When a recent survey revealed that 90% of people want a home that promotes health and well-being and would pay more for such a home, it begs the question why more healthy homes aren’t being built?
Homeowners would pay more for an environmentally home and almost 70% of renters would like a home that doesn’t compromise their health. Studies have found that human cognitive ability improves by more than 60% when inside a green built building. Amazingly, these abilities rise to over 100% when extra ventilation is included. This is incredible information and proves that people fare much better when surrounded by natural and environmentally friendly materials.
Studies in Austria compared the differences between children in standard classrooms and those being taught in timber classrooms. The timber-surrounded children had a lower heart rate, by up to 8600 heartbeats, were considerably more relaxed, less stressed and performed better too.
Japanese studies saw a rise in blood pressure when people were exposed to steel, but wooden panels made blood pressure decrease. Similar studies in the effects of wood found people reported feeling more energetic, comfortable and more inclined to socially interact when surrounded by wooden furniture. Incorporating wood products into an interior is also great for regulating humidity, significantly improving the air quality inside many buildings.
Why does wood have this effect?
Wood benefits our health thanks to how it lowers the activating point of the sympathetic nervous system. This is the system that creates our stress responses, raises our blood pressure and heart rate and inhibits processes like digestive and the body’s ability to recover and repair itself. Wood and nature naturally soothe us.
Wouldn’t it be great if all our homes could be wood?
Over half of the UK population would think about building their own home if they could. There are many benefits to timber-framed custom-built homes which can be beautiful and high quality. For a timber frame construction company, visit http://www.qtfhomes.co.uk
Approximately one tenth of newly built homes are custom builds each year, which equates to about 12,000. The government is hoping this figure will double by 2020. Wood is the perfect construction material, as it can be delivered and constructed within days, not weeks.
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