A home is not a home unless it makes you feel good. Catherine Moye of FT.COM writes on some of the research being done on how certain rooms and environments make you feel. One researcher she describes rails “against minimalist interiors with no clutter since studies have shown that animals, including humans, display increased neural activity in the presence of pictures, objects, distinct colors and textures.”
She also writes that another research paper shows this clutter enhances the “memorability” of an environment and reinforces a positive sense of place. “Put another way, a room with many things to catch our attention also captures our affection, increasing well-being.”
For the theorists among us, Moye cites another scholar whose research shows “that when people are in a room with high ceilings, it activates sections of the right brain associated with freedom and abstract thinking. In low-ceilinged rooms, more constrained thinking is brought to the fore.” Vertical space, it seems, does have its benefits.
Now the only room I really remember was that of my teenage son and that must be because it was one of the most cluttered and unnavigable spaces on earth, although I didn’t do the comparative research on that one.
Oh, and I also remember a place where I was used to thinking incredibly high minded thoughts, but that was in a church and not the shower, which sort of fits with what Moye is talking about.
So home is more than a place where you ought to just hang up your hat. It’s also a place, according to the experts noted above, where your hang ups themselves should be given a rest.
