Health and Wellbeing
The Global Wellness Market is already a $4.5 trillion industry. Many developers, designers, employers, health professionals and officials are unaware of the substantial benefits obtainable through creating environments that enhance health and wellbeing.
Many of the design procedures that can be taken to help improve general health and wellbeing can also help reduce people’s COVID-19 risks. Examples of factors influencing health and wellbeing (partial listing): Active design: Numerous design measures can be incorporated into buildings and their surroundings to increase and improve physical activities. The design of physical space can greatly impact both mental and physical health. Air quality: Indoor air quality (IAQ) can significantly influence health and wellbeing. Most individuals spend 90% of their time indoors. Poor IAQ costs Europe alone €80 billion in healthcare costs. Poor IAQ can also greatly increase COVID-19 risks. Causes can include: Poorly specified building materials; cleaning products, flooring; furnishings; office equipment; standard paints; and electromagnetic pollution. Pollutants include: carbon dioxide; ozone; ultrafine particles; volatile organic compounds (VOCs); and pathogens. There are numerous benefits in improving IAQ by design. Connection with Nature: Better connection with nature can greatly improve biological functioning, including recuperation from illness. It can also provide opportunities for increased social cohesion, physical exercise and increased food resilience. There are numerous advantages in working with Nature. Daylight: Exposure to daylight when indoors is biologically beneficial, reduces absenteeism, shortens patient stay in hospital and reduces the need for painkiller medication. Daylight can also reduce likelihood of infection, including that from SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. EMF exposures: Research indicates electromagnetic pollution can affect health and wellbeing in a growing number of individuals. It can also increase risk of inhalation of harmful submicron pollutants, including pathogens, within individual microenvironments. More biologically beneficial exposures can be created. Infection prevention: Drug resistant infections are predicted to kill more than 10 million yearly by 2050 (at an annual cost of $100 trillion USD) unless appropriate action is taken. The current COVID-19 pandemic is also causing huge loss of life. There are many ways the environment can be re-designed to reduce such risks. Materials and equipment specification: The types of materials and technologies specified (and where they are located) can greatly influence the levels of pollutants individuals are exposed to, and also in the case of pathogens, how long they remain viable. Addressing such matters can create significant benefits for all. Productivity The type of design and specification undertaken for buildings, living environments and the products used within them can substantially impact worker productivity. Even relatively small changes can significantly influence financial returns. Staff expenses, including wages and benefits, usually account for around 90% of business operational costs. The monetary value of productivity improvements can have far greater impact than similar levels of change in energy or rental outlays. Examples of factors* influencing productivity (partial listing): Absenteeism: This can be caused by reduced health and wellbeing and is one of the top causes of lost productivity. Air quality: Enhanced air quality can lead to an increase in productivity of 8-11%. Of greatest importance is improving air quality in workplaces and other places where individuals spend prolonged periods of time. Building layout: The level of creative diversity provided in the design and layout of workspaces and social spaces can greatly affect staff productivity. As can equipment zoning and specification. Colour schemes: The use of specific colours within room layouts can boost different types of performance. Some colours are good for promoting attention to detail. Others are good for enhancing creativity. Light: Optimised lighting exposures can substantially improve learning ability, staff productivity and can help reduce error rates. A further advantage is that optimised light exposures in work spaces can greatly reduce the viability of pathogens within them. Noise: Acoustic pollution from disruptive talking, telephone usage and additional equipment operated in offices, is often the greatest single contributor to reduced productivity. Thermal comfort: Optimising thermal comfort in the workplace can lead to improvements in work performance of between 4-10%. Technology: The adoption of more biologically friendly technologies can reduce stress, improve work performance and aid memory function. It can also help reduce the likelihood of infection from pathogens. Views: Access to nature is beneficial. Pleasant views from windows can increase worker productivity by 7-15%. *The levels of improvement achievable vary between individual projects, so figures given are not always replicable and/or can even be exceeded. |
Working with Nature’s cues and guidelines to create more biologically sustainable environments can create huge dividends in terms of health and wellbeing. |
Changing Perceptions, Improving Life - Reinventing the Future
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