When home is not so sweet
REARRANGING WHAT’S AROUND YOU CAN HEAD OFF THE SHELTER-IN-PLACE BLUES
Most of us are getting pretty sick of our homes. Familiarity does breed contempt, especially in a time when we all have to “shelter in place.” COVID-19 is a disease, but “sick house syndrome” has afflicted us for a generation.
“Sick house syndrome” is the term used to describe toxicity in the places where we live. When our homes became built to be more efficient for heating and cooling needs, that meant that more of our homes’ skins restricted outside fresh air from passively cooling or warming the interior air.
We killed drafts as we wrapped and insulated our homes, but the outgassing of radon (a natural, carcinogenic gas), the propagation of mold, even the unwanted carbon monoxide of your stove’s burners all made some of the interior environments of our homes toxic.
While the latest generation of home technology offers up venting that prevents physical toxicity, the unrelentingly cooped up realities of mandatory sequestration is psychologically toxic too.
Architect Ann Sussman writes in her book “Cognitive Architecture” that recent efforts to define how humans respond to their built environments have opened the eyes of designers to aesthetics beyond style.
“As humans we are unique because we are so visual,” Sussman writes, “About half of our sensory information is visual.”
Studies have shown that about 90% of our hours are spent indoors, and since about 90% of our indoor time is now, for now, in our homes, Dr. Megan T. Sandel writes, “Where you live may be the strongest predictor of your health.”
Beyond lead paint, asbestos and even (believe it or not) rotting cockroach carcasses, we are all experiencing the emotional sickness of how our homes affect us emotionally.
Psychologists Colleen Merrifield and James Danckert have done research that shows that even small doses of boredom can generate stress. No amount of binge-ing on reruns, ice cream or MSNBC gets you out of your house. As we live inside our homes for weeks at a time, this is the time to come to terms with the fact that distraction does not solve your home’s problems.
Given the stress of boredom, what can mitigate our house-bound malaise? Brendan Walker, who teaches at the University of Nottingham, says simply: “We are, as animals, programmed to respond to thrill” and he states that “humans want a certain amount of turmoil or confusion. Complexity is thrilling.” The thrill imperative may just be a tonic for an emotionally toxic home.
Natural light is a thrilling reality. Natural light was thought to be a cure in the last century, and it clearly is uplifting, especially after a long winter: Why not remove your curtains and shades for a season?
Color can thrill: latex paint is easy and cheap to apply and clean up after: Why not go nuts and paint your home’s interior for a thrilling change?
Natural air has also been an anecdotal cure, but is certainly a refreshing change from the dank dullness of depressive home sequestration: When it gets over 60 degrees, why not throw open all the windows before bugs are around to infest your safe harbor?
When you cannot control so much in your life — like where you can work or who you can see or what you can touch — it is empowering to manifest your domestic reality by simply rearranging the furniture: why face a fireplace when the weather is warm? Why turn your back on your kitchen when you are cooking everyday? Why sleep in the same place, in the same orientation?
If you have to cook all the time, why not change the way you organize your kitchen to make cooking a joyous act of creation: moving what is used for easy-access and storing the rest away from “primetime” locations?
When we lose control, humans get depressed. When you feel like you are being controlled, anger is a natural response. But if in the one place where you should feel loved, embraced, or just plain safe — your own home — is where you feel threatened or hopeless it is time that you know that you have the power over your home, not the other way around.
The world is cooperating in our social detoxification: it is getting warmer and lighter: our homes should open up to the gift of spring. No matter if it is an apartment or a McMansion, where you live can lift your spirits or it can add to your funk.
Seize the day: Open your eyes — see your home as your place, not your prison. “Home Sweet Home” is not just a framed embroidery on the wall, it is the place you make it.
STUDIES HAVE SHOWN THAT ABOUT 90% OF OUR HOURS ARE SPENT INDOORS, AND SINCE ABOUT 90% OF OUR INDOOR TIME IS NOW, FOR NOW, IN OUR HOMES, ‘WHERE YOU LIVE MAY BE THE STRONGEST PREDICTOR OF YOUR HEALTH.’