Really interesting article about the concept of biophilic design, something I’ve brought up a lot on this sight. In summary, humans love natural environments, so why haven’t our buildings and other spaces moved more in that direction? It’s all broken out very nicely in this post:
Category: disease
How exercise affects the brain: Age and genetics play a role
From Science Daily:
Exercise clears the mind. It gets the blood pumping and more oxygen is delivered to the brain. This is familiar territory, but Dartmouth’s David Bucci thinks there is much more going on.
“In the last several years there have been data suggesting that neurobiological changes are happening — [there are] very brain-specific mechanisms at work here,” says Bucci, an associate professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences.
From his studies, Bucci and his collaborators have revealed important new findings:
The effects of exercise are different on memory as well as on the brain, depending on whether the exerciser is an adolescent or an adult.
A gene has been identified which seems to mediate the degree to which exercise has a beneficial effect. This has implications for the potential use of exercise as an intervention for mental illness.
more via How exercise affects the brain: Age and genetics play a role.
Related articles
- Dartmouth researchers are learning how exercise affects the brain (eurekalert.org)
- This Is Your Child’s Brain on Exercise; How to Make Schools Healthier (theatlanticwire.com)
- Exercise and the Brain – A Scientific Summary (expsychlab.com)
- Brain Health (innerenginefitness.com)
Rise in Allergies and Asthma could be related to biodiversity loss | The Izilwane Blog
A recent Finnish research study suggests that a decline in biodiversity in the plants, animals and microbes in our daily environment may be linked to rising rates of allergies and asthma.Researchers studied 118 Finnish teenagers and found links between a healthy immune system, growing up in more rural or natural setting, and the presence of certain skin bacteria.This idea supports the biodiversity hypothesis – the idea that an environment with a diverse population of living things including microbes – is important for the development of a normal immune system in children. You may have heard of a similar idea, the hygiene hypothesis, suggesting that being exposed to microbes early in life trains our immune systems not to respond to harmless microbes or foreign substances like pollen. The hygiene hypothesis suggests that we have become too clean for our own good.Increasingly, scientists and researchers are realizing that we know less about many of the microbes that are in our environment, on our skin and inside our bodies. Nor do we know how they affect our health and bodily functions.
more via Rise in Allergies and Asthma could be related to biodiversity loss | The Izilwane Blog.
Designing and Building for Wellness
Great blog post from The Patron Saint of Architecture about what it means for her to be an architect and build and design things for people’s overall health and wellness:
As architects, we seek to inspire those who move through the environments we create. It’s also our job to understand how the space will be used and create elements that support that use. The last leg of the stool, a part we often overlook, is the need to make buildings that support wellness. Even architects who design healthcare buildings often forget about this one as they work to meet many other challenges related to budget, program, operational and code requirements. Maybe it’s because wellness is such a slippery term. Much like the term “green,” “wellness” is often bandied about, a buzzword that makes some aspect of a product, design or organization sound like it’s good for us. So how do we know if it really is- much less translate that into design elements? I have been thinking about this issue for a while and even found an interesting website devoted to defining wellness complete with helpful questionnaires.
I’ve come to the conclusion that true wellness is multidimensional and positively impacts our physical, mental and social state of being. With that in mind, I have also observed that, as a profession, we kind of, sort of, dip our toe in the waters of designing for wellness. We embrace sustainable building standards, evidence-based design, lean design, even socially conscious strategies. However, these are just quantifiers. Building blocks of the wellness leg of the architecture stool, but not enough as stand-alones. True architecture of wellness must incorporate all of these measures, but spring from a much deeper intent.
Read her recommendations for building spaces that promote wellness at her blog post: architecture of wellness
Thinking by Design: Scientific American
One of the biggest pieces to having an enriching, relaxing, invigorating, or overall non-stressful space is what you put into it. There has been lots of research into creating better work spaces, medical spaces and homes, but it can be hard to quantify some of this research; after all, it’s hard to quantify “feeling better.” So it’s nice to read about one team in Vienna that is doing just that, by trying to figure out which objects people like more than others:
Each person’s aesthetic taste seems distinct, and yet that perception belies a large body of shared preferences. Our team at the University of Vienna, among others, has sought to unravel the patterns and principles behind people’s emotional reactions to objects. Although trends drive certain design decisions, scientists have identified fundamental properties of the mind that consistently dictate which products people tend to like and dislike. Psychologists are now better equipped than ever to explain how you came to choose your belongings in the first place. They can also begin to decipher why you continue to love certain purchases long after they have lost their initial shine, whereas others land in the trash.
more via Thinking by Design: Scientific American.
According to their work so far, we like big, round things, but also like things to be symmetrical. It’s pretty well established that we like symmetrical faces, so it makes sense that our tastes in other areas would follow. We also like things that are familiar but not exactly the same, old with a kick maybe.
While none of this is ground-breaking insight per say, it confirms what psychologists, architects and designers have known for years but didn’t necessarily have a good scientific reason when asked why.
I’m curious what other insights other groups have found when looking at design and aesthetics form a neurobiological standpoint. Know of any good ones? Post them in the comments below!
10 Things I Learned From People Who Survive Cancer | Care2 Healthy Living
This is a great article that was shared with me by a friend who has survived cancer (that’s a huge deal, by the way, I’ve had plenty of friends and family the last couple of years who didn’t). It was written Lissa Ranken for her project The Woman Inside. Lissa noticed that all of the cancer survivors she met shared some characteristics in common:
They had all faced down death and decided to live every day like it might be their last. And then they all beat cancer.The more interviews I did, the more I noticed that these women were living differently than most of the people I knew who had not been diagnosed with cancer. Here’s what I learned from those survivor women. Learning these lessons changed my life, and I hope they’ll change yours.
read on for 10 Things I Learned From People Who Survive Cancer | Care2 Healthy Living.
What they all boil down to is being yourself and living for the moment. These women all had days where that moment might have been their last, so they made the most of it. They got angry, they put themselves and their health first, and they got better.
It is a lesson that we can all learn, to not worry about doing what’s “right” for the future so much, or “right” for someone else. Yes it’s important to be nice and get along with people and make sure you have enough money saved for retirement, but so much of the time I’ve seen people, myself included, act a certain way or do something because they thought it would make other people happy, when the truth is if they did what they wanted to do for themselves it would have worked out just as well, if not better!
So go read the 10 things, and then tell yourself you’re beautiful and being feisty is a good thing!
Related articles
- 10 Things I Learned From People Who Survive Cancer (psychologytoday.com)
Noise pollution
- Image via Wikipedia
Great editorial about the effects of noise pollution on people in populated areas, and from a source who would know; Burma, or Myanmar, a country with over 55 million people crammed into a relatively small space:
The Manipur Pollution Control Board has been making efforts to lessen pollution in this fast growing city of ours. However one dimension of pollution seems to be neglected comparatively speaking, and that is noise pollution. Most citizens are unaware that prolonged exposure to noise pollution can lead to deafness or hearing impairment.
To get a clearer picture of the menace of noise pollution let us get down to a few facts. Noise is measured by its loudness and the technical measuring unit is decibel (dB).
The quietness we get in a library is surprisingly measured at 30 dB. Perhaps the flipping of pages are responsible for that. The quietness in a garden, far from the madding crowd, is slightly higher.
It is not known how many decibles are registered by a nagging wife. But it is bound to make a few neighbours raise their eyebrows and plead for calm. However Rip Van Winkle left his wife and slept in quiet and solitude for twenty years.
On the other hand a pair of young lovers will of course, make sure that at least sound does not betray their presence.
City traffic, heard from inside a car is measured at 85 dB. A police whistle is measured above 90 dB. The level at which sustained exposure may result in hearing loss is between 90-95 dB.
What is of concern, particularly related to our children, is that even short term exposure to excessive loudness can cause permanent damage.
more at The Menace of Noise Pollution.
I have moved from a couple of different apartments because of the associated noise pollution from busy streets or freeway noises, and I can’t work with super loud music on (although a little white noise is actually useful for me).
What are some of the biggest noise polluters where you live?
Want Jobs? Build Bike Lanes | Fast Company
The Federal government, as well as places like Seattle, WA, right now are pushing for more freeways, bridges, and car-focused infrastructure, but bikes may be a better solution with a faster return on investment:
…In reality, bike and pedestrian infrastructure projects generate more than just peace of mind. They also generate 46% more jobs than car-only road projects, according to a new study.
Streetsblog points us to the University of Massachusetts study, which evaluated job opportunities created by 58 infrastructure projects in 11 U.S. states. The result: Cycling projects create a total of 11.4 local jobs for each $1 million spent. Pedestrian-only projects create a little less employment, with an average of 10 jobs for the same amount of money. Multi-use trails create 9.6 jobs per $1 million–but road-only projects generate just 7.8 jobs per $1 million.
A similar study that examined infrastructure projects in Baltimore, Maryland came up with similar results: Pedestrian and bike infrastructure projects create 11 to 14 jobs per $1 million of spending while road infrastructure initiatives create just seven jobs per $1 million of spending.
Want Jobs? Build Bike Lanes | Fast Company.
This never would have occurred to me, so I’m glad that there is somebody out there looking at some of the economic perks to encouraging bicycling. Bikes are also obviously a great investment for cities because they promote exercise, connection with one’s environment and community, and lower pollution, all lowering cost of living there.
Related articles
- Study: Bike lanes the best job creators (oregonlive.com)
Workplace Cited as a New Source of Rise in Obesity – NYTimes.com
To be perfectly honest, I have gained a significant amount of weight since starting my new job in November. I avoid the free sodas but can’t resist the occasional free chocolate, and combined with being chained to my computer for typically 10 hours at a time (or more) BOY is it adding up. And apparently I am not alone:
A sweeping review of shifts in the labor force since 1960 suggests that a sizable portion of the national weight gain can be explained by declining physical activity during the workday. Jobs requiring moderate physical activity, which accounted for 50 percent of the labor market in 1960, have plummeted to just 20 percent.
The remaining 80 percent of jobs, the researchers report, are sedentary or require only light activity. The shift translates to an average decline of 120 to 140 calories a day in physical activity, closely matching the nation’s steady weight gain over the past five decades, according to the report, published Wednesday in the journal PLoS One.
Today, an estimated one in three Americans are obese. Researchers caution that workplace physical activity most likely accounts for only one piece of the obesity puzzle, and that diet, lifestyle and genetics all play important roles.
more via Workplace Cited as a New Source of Rise in Obesity – NYTimes.com.
Thankfully there are things I can do at work, like adjust my desk so that I can stand instead. I often take breaks to wiggle or stretch, and I get a discount at several local gyms. But this is not enough, and if we want to not have to pay for workers’ lifestyle-induced health problems, from obesity to carpal tunnel syndrome, we need to encourage businesses to improve health in the workplace!
For starters, no free candy and less hours expected of your workers! You’ll get more productive workers, really really!
Related articles
- Daily routine boosting obesity rates (mya.co.uk)
A Better Way to Fight Obesity: New, Smarter Supermarkets | The Atlantic
I heard an interview on the radio today with Rupal Sanghvi, the founder of HealthxDesign (“Healthy By Design”), an initiative she launched in 2010 after a decade of work with the International Planned Parenthood Federation.
During her years in the field, Sanghvi observed numerous instances in which people developing public health solutions overlooked contextual factors that were contributing to the problem. In clinics, for example, she saw how redesigning ventilation systems, retrofitting inefficient lighting, or choosing different building materials could improve
treatment conditions and accessibility, but these things were rarely addressed. Likewise, in supermarkets, features like store layout and air temperature can influence purchasing decisions, but food access initiatives often stop short of such nuances of structural design.“Standard supermarkets are designed to promote consumption of foods that are high in sugar and preservatives,” explains Sanghvi, “because those are the high-margin items that maximize profit.” According to current guidelines, in an average 10,000-square-foot supermarket, only 500 square feet must be utilized for fresh produce. If the U.S. spends millions to build supermarkets according to the conventional mold, she argues, we may see some improvement in public health simply as a result of increased access to food, but we stand to achieve far better outcomes if we first reconsider supermarket design itself.
more via A Better Way to Fight Obesity: New, Smarter Supermarkets – Sarah Rich – Life – The Atlantic.
This is a great point being made about how our environment has a huge impact on our behavior, as well as corporate responsibility for health and wellness, and not just profits. This seems especially important for food stores, and I’m glad to see somebody taking up the cause.
Related:
Supermarket “Video Game” Designed to Help Shoppers Buy Healthier Food
Mental Flowers 