The Science of a Happy Home: Neuroaesthetics and How Home Affects Your Mental Health

We are mentally and emotionally impacted by our surroundings, whether we consciously realize it or not.  The science of neuroaesthetics helps us understand more about how we’re affected by the built environment around us.  Utilizing this knowledge can help us combine useful design techniques to create homes that better support mental health and wellbeing.

In this first blog of the Happy by Design Series, I open the conversation about how your home affects your mental health.  I introduce the new science of neuroaesthetics and offer a visualization exercise that will help you embody the subliminal sensations created by different built environments.

What is Neuroaesthetics?

Neuroaesthetics is a relatively new discipline that studies the neurological impact of experiencing aesthetic beauty through the involvement of the brain and autonomic nervous system.

Until recently, the arts and sciences were thought of as separate disciplines, rarely overlapping, and looked at as competing elements of human expression and comprehension.  Now, science is being used to gain a greater understanding of how humans are affected by art, why we have an emotional reaction to beauty and feel attracted to certain spaces while repelled by others.

As a meaning-seeking species, our brains instinctively and automatically try to make sense of our surroundings.  Every second, 11 million bits of information come into our human mind through our five senses. However, we’re only conscious of 50 bits per second!  This means that to a very large degree, we are interacting with the world around us mostly unconsciously. 

Read the full blog...https://www.pippinhomedesigns.com/you-inspired-living/science_of_a_happy_home