How to Calm Your Space
Whether you’re committed to WFH full-time or are back to days in the office, chances are you’re still spending more time at home than you once were. And while anxiety may have lessened slightly since the start of the year, you may still be feeling tense and uncertain, feelings that undoubtedly spill out over into your home environment. Read on to discover ways to calm your space and reclaim your sanity…
Spritz some scent
Whether you light a candle, burn some incense, add oil to a diffuser or spritz a few pumps of home fragrance in a room, the effect is the same. Thanks to a deep connection between our olfactory receptors and the limbic system, the area of our brain responsible for mood, emotion and memory, what we smell can have a big impact on how we feel. While peppermint and lemon increase motivation and focus, try lavender and ylang ylang to relax and ground frayed nerves.
Play some music
Much like its ability to motivate you in the gym, music also has a significant impact when it comes to helping us to feel more at ease. Studies have shown that cortisol production – the hormone triggered when we feel stressed – is significantly reduced when relaxing music is played, while a slower tempo can actively quieten a racing mind and even help to relax your muscles if you’re feeling wound up. If you find yourself starting the day feeling overwhelmed, play some relaxing music first thing. This will set the tone for a calmer, less stressful day. Stress can likewise affect the quality of your sleep. To prepare yourself for a more restful night, fill your bedroom with music that induces peace and tranquillity. Look for something that will slow down your thoughts, soothe your mind and help you to switch off; according to Spotify’s research, that’s songs that pulse at between 60-80 beats per minute.
Go Green
As well as purifying the air inside your home of toxic pollutants and keeping noise levels down by absorbing sound, plants have the ability to de stress us too, making for a much more peaceful living environment. Seeing nature and greenery in our space calms us psychologically, with some studies estimating that house plants boost wellbeing, reduce stress and improve concentration and productivity by up to 15%.
Switch off
We all know a non-stop stream of connectivity to our devices is bad news for our sleep patterns, but it’s not a habit we should get into during the day either. Being privy to a constant stream of, let’s face it, frankly, worrying news, is a sure-fire way to spike and maintain elevated cortisol levels. Too much screen time also inhibits our focus and concentration, and, according to a survey carried out by Forbes, time spent on devices not only gets in the way of our relationships, excess time spent on social media also promotes feelings of depression, jealousy and sadness. To reclaim your space, make a habit of turning off your alerts. Better still, leave your phone in another room and set boundaries for usage, only checking it during allotted ‘screen time’.