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The Impact Of Interior Design On The Well-being Of Seniors

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Ways to reduce environmental stress

• Increase connection to nature. This effect can be achieved by providing: views to the outside, interior gardens or aquariums, or art with a nature theme.

• Provide pleasant diversions. Diversions may include: artwork of nature (not abstract art), videos of nature, and aquariums

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Ways to reduce stress and improve patient outcomes continued…

• Offer options and choices -Options include the ability to: adjust lighting and temperature, choose music, select places to sit, and control the timing of meals.

• Enhance social support -Social support can be enhanced by providing lounges with comfortable furniture that can be arranged as desired, designing rooms to accommodate visitors, and making it comfortable for visitors to stay overnight.

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Why is interior design significant for well-being?

• Getting the correct environment for a person can help facilitate their wellbeing making them happier and likely to live longer

• The design of an environment through a variety of means such as temperature, sounds, layout, lighting, and colours can stimulate perceptual and emotional responses in people and affect their behaviour

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Colour has been found to increase a person’s arousal (Huchendorf, 2007).

A colour can change our mood from sad to happy, from confusion to intelligence, from fear to confidence. It can actually be used to “level out” emotions or to create different moods

The Importance Of Colour

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Colour suggestions for each room of the building

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Checklist…

• Provide correct lighting levels• Help aid hobbies with practical lamps• Good bathroom mirror lights• Chose warm bulbs rather than cold white ones• Provide double circuits • Dimmers

Lighting

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Type of floor Advantages Disadvantages

Carpet Soft and warm Poor air quality and hard to keep clean

Cork Floors Soft and non slip. Easy to clean

Easily water damaged

Linoleum Flooring Easily cleaned Expensive

Vinyl Flooring Easy to care for and impervious to stains and water damage

Bad impact on the environment and slippery surface

Rubber floors Soft and non slip and can be impervious to stains and water damage

Expensive and can smell

Avoid natural stone, brick, ceramic and glass

Flooring

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• Z-Wave is a wireless technology that makes regular household products, "smart“.

• When you're at home you can use your tablet or smart phone to control your environment.

• Make a "wake up" scene that warms the house, turns on a few lights and starts your coffee

Technology

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Law of closure: we want things to look finished

Law of similarity: we tend to group similar things together

Law of proximity: the closer things are, the more we want to group them

Law of continuity: we see points that are connected by straight or curving lines as belonging together in a way that follows the smoothest path

Law of foreground: we can only see the positive or negative aspects of an item one at a time (i.e. drawings where can see an old woman outline in black and a young woman in white)

Vision and Artwork- Gestalt theory

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Lavender- relaxing, relief from headaches, muscle pain and stress. Improvement in depression and insomnia diseases

Mint- As vapour it is used to treat bronchitis, asthma and coughing. It also relieves mental fatigue, nervous stress and palpitations

Jasmine- The essential oil is anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, analgesic and expectorant. It is also a natural anti-depressive agent and can produce optimism and euphoria sensation

Aromas

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• Window shutters

• Window blankets

• Soundproof carpet

• Other pleasant noises

How to combat noise

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Furniture

Provide a variety of comfortable seat heights to suit all mobility groups and ages.

Contrast upholstery fabrics with surrounding materials to help residents navigate a room.

Consider sustainable materials.

Provide a variety of comfortable seat heights to suit all mobility groups and ages.

Contrast upholstery fabrics with surrounding materials to help residents navigate a room.

Consider sustainable materials.

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Making furniture safe...

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Ways to make a grand entrance…

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Bathrooms

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Ergonomic kitchens

Put floor mats in front of the stove and sink and other places where someone might need to do a lot of standing.

Because it is hard for many seniors to raise their arms above their shoulders, avoid high storage for frequently used items.

The storage should be below shoulder height,Replace shelves in overhead cabinet with pull-down shelves.

Put the microwave on the counter instead of overhead above the stove. This is a safe and simply way to avoid burns from hot spills which are especially dangerous to the elderly, whose thinner skin is easily burned

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Summary

• The right interior design can reduce stress and promote well-being

• Making sure the home is equipped with the right materials and furniture is essential to keep older adults safe and well