Being Connected to Your Home Promotes Mental Wellbeing – 3min Read

We all know that feeling of coming home after a long day of work. The relief. The stress melting away. Or that feeling of being away from home, where you would give anything to go home and curl up on your couch with a book.

The connection to our homes has a direct impact on our moods and mental health, and there is no better way to feel connected to your home than to feel comfortable in it. 

Here are a few tips to make you feel more connected to where you live:

Invite Friends or Family Over

According to the APA, remembering happy moments actually makes life more pleasant. Especially if you have had some stressful or less-than-pleasant experiences in your house, replacing those memories with more recent, enjoyable ones can help you connect to your home more.

Decorate with Nostalgic Items 

On that note, including décor that you have an emotional attachment to will connect you, as well. These items can be as simple as family photos, trinkets from a vacation, or sports memorabilia. They can also be more nuanced or subliminal like pillows from your friend's small business, cultural patterns or adaptations of cultural patterns, or colors from your childhood home.

Add Some Foliage 

Biophilia is a concept that human beings have an innate need to connect with nature. As we spend more time in our cars, in our offices, and on technology, we are barricading ourselves from the benefits of being exposed to greenery. Adding plants around your home has been proven to improve mood, increase productivity, and decrease fatigue and stress.

Rethink Your Color Scheme 

It’s no secret that color affects your mood, so your home’s color palette is a great thing to tackle first if you aren’t feeling one with your home. Some great colors that make you feel more comfortable at home are:

• Light, warm blue – calm, relaxing, serene. Blue helps to lower blood pressure, promotes a clear mind, and can steady your breathing.
• Yellow – brightens your mood, increases energy. Yellow makes you feel joyous, uplifted, and lively.
• Green – reduces anxiety, restorative. Green is an easy color on the eyes, which can help clear the mind and make you feel prosperous.
• Pink – calming. Something called the “Pink Effect” helps relieve anger and aggression the longer you are around the color pink.

Declutter Yourself

On the heels of the KonMari method, people are starting to realize that clutter makes you feel disconnected from your home. Sometimes it is so bad that people don’t want to go home or will avoid parts of their house that are particularly unruly. There are a lot of organizational methods, so feel free to research and find one you think is realistic for your lifestyle, but a good place to start would be to get rid of anything that doesn’t bring you joy.

However you choose to go about it, fostering your comfort at home will make you feel more connected to it. Connection leads to wellbeing, and wellbeing is happiness.

How do you connect yourself to your home? Let us know using the hashtag #HomeIs and tag @NohoHome on Instagram!

Cheyenne Lawes

Cheyenne is from Kāne’ohe, Hawai'i. When she isn't writing or researching, you can find her dancing, sleeping, or eating french fries. Find her @cheyennelawes on Instagram or her website, www.cheyennelawes.com <3