With Mental Health Awareness Week less than two months away (15-21st May 2023), it's important to prioritise our well-being.
Creating a "Quiet Sanctuary" within our home can help us relax, rejuvenate and focus on what's really important - our health, both mental and physical. To quote multi-award-winning Interior Designer, Kelly Hoppen: " A calm, quiet and harmonious interior can be as beneficial to health as a sensible diet and regular exercise."
According to an article in Readers Digest, your sanctuary "doesn't have to be a whole room - it could be a reading nook, a knitting or craft space, or even a home spa in your bathroom."
Here are 7 tips that can help you create a "Quiet Sanctuary" at home so you can get the peace and quiet you truly deserve.
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IMPROVE YOUR INDOOR AIR QUALITY
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To fully relax at home, and with the allergy season quickly approaching, it's important to address our indoor air quality, which is, according to Allergy UK, "crucial for human health". There are 21 million allergy sufferers in the UK, so improving the air we breathe at home needs to be on the top of our list when creating a "Quiet Sanctuary".
Defra suggests there are many practical ways in which we can help improve our indoor air quality. This includes using "specialised equipment for filtration and purification". The Quiet Mark certified Honeywell HPA830 Designer Tower Air Purifier for example, provides powerful, effective True HEPA filtration with a great design to fit the style of your home. The Air Quality Indicator, powered by a VOC sensor, constantly monitors room air quality, and projects real-time, colour coded feedback onto the floor where you can see it from across the room. Automatic Cleaning mode uses the air quality reading to automatically adjust to the optimal cleaning level for cleaner air. There is also an Essential Oil Tray for optional aromatherapy.
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Studies have shown houseplants to be good for our health and our psyche, so bringing nature into your home can help boost your happiness, creativity and focus. According to world-renowned tidying expert, Marie Kondo, plants don't only brighten up spaces, but they also improve our mood and productivity.
Quiet Mark certified BuzziSpace BuzziPlanter adds an extra feature to that list. The upholstered colourful pot, made from high-density foam, has the acoustic superpower to absorb excessive noise in open spaces, creating healthier environments for people to thrive.
BuzziPlanter divides open spaces into luscious green micro-environments, creating calm and peaceful areas to work, gather and relax. Each pot has a built-in plastic container, making it suitable for both real and artificial plants. Thanks to a wide variety of colours BuzziPlanter easily fits into any décor, adding a dash of fun and a lot of silence
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If you want a low-maintenance option, you can opt for biophilic wall murals or fun wallpaper prints. BuzziSpace BuzziMood Biophilic Acoustic Panels for example, has a lush, botanical appearance, which promotes a more relaxed and calm atmosphere, whilst BuzziSkin Printed Felt Acoustic Wallpaper brightens up corners and nooks with a pinch of creativity.
“Even having natural wood furniture in your home partnered with green accessories or wall paint can bring that outdoor feeling inside”, says interior designer Rebecca West. Quiet Mark certified WoodUpp Akupanel is an acoustic wooden slat wall panel which invites the beauty and calming essence of nature into homes and workplaces. Creating a new era of design, WoodUpp use sustainable materials to produce their products.
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Selecting a place within your home to be your "quiet space" can make all the difference - especially if you've got a busy home or lead a busy life.
Furniture plays a big role in how we feel about our home and how we move within it.
BuzziSpace offer a number of acoustic pouffes and chairs, made of upholstered foam and fabric to absorb sound and decrease echo and reverberation - all while adding a modern touch. The BuzziSpace BuzziSpark for example, invites you to relax into the comfort of an acoustic shelter. Its different layers of cushions and the thickness of the shields of this upholstered lounge seating, increase the absorbing properties. The entire cocoon soaks up sound waves, which results in more internal privacy and less background noise from the outside world.
Keep your "quiet space" clutter free to maintain a peaceful environment. According to Psychology Today, neuroscience research has found that too much clutter reduces productivity.
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Incorporate as much natural light as possible to create a calming space. Healthline recommends opening your window blinds as soon as you wake up in the morning to let the sunshine in, which can help boost your intake of Vitamin D.
Opt for double glazed windows to muffle sounds from outside and create a calming and quieter space. Everest Noise Reducing Double Glazed windows feature a laminated acoustic glass with a special polymer layer sandwiched between the glass, specifically engineered to disrupt sound and help reduce noise pollution. The laminated glass and different thicknesses of glass reduce vibrations and noise so less sound travels through the window. In addition, these windows are A+ rated for energy efficiency.
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CREATE AN OASIS FROM WITHIN YOUR KITCHEN
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The kitchen truly is the heart of the home! That's because it's the place where we prepare the food that will nourish the people we love most. The kitchen is also a social hub for the family and a place where we juggle work, parenting and other responsibilities. It is therefore important to create a calming environment that helps us escape from the stresses of everyday life.
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CHOOSE WARM & COSY LIGHTING
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According to The Simplicity Habit, "the way you illuminate your space can have a huge impact on how it feels". Warm white light for example, contains more orange, red and yellow tones, which creates a more cosy setting. Furthermore, studies have shown that light and room acoustics have an undeniable impact on productivity, human interaction and well-being.
BuzziSpace have developed a wide range of pendant lights, floor lamps and chandeliers, where light, acoustics and aesthetics work in harmony. The BuzziSpace BuzziJet Acoustic Pendant Lighting for example, with its geometric design, creates a sense of serenity. Its aerodynamic design offers sound-absorbing capabilities, delivering acoustic comfort paired with a powerful light source that emits warm, pleasant light.
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TURN YOUR BATHROOM INTO A SPA
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CREATE A NATURAL SLEEPING ENVIRONMENT
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The Sleep Charity suggests most people generally need a quiet bedroom to sleep well, with noise tending to be most disruptive in the lighter stages of sleep but most damaging when it wakes us up from our deepest sleep.
According to Sound Sleep Medical, "light in the morning, even artificial light from a sunrise alarm, can help reset your circadian rhythm, and help your natural sleeping and waking cycle function optimally".
The Quiet Mark certified Lumie Bodyclock Luxe 750DAB is the brand's premium Bodyclock sleep/wake-up light. At bedtime, the sunset feature helps promote your body's natural sleep response allowing you to drift off naturally. As your room gets dark, the light-sensitive display switches off to help you switch off fully. Then in the morning, the light mimics a real sunrise for a gentle and natural wake-up.
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According to the Sleep Foundation, light is "the most important external factor affecting sleep". Dark light naturally gives our body the cue that it's time to go to sleep and directly affects our circadian rhythm. Darkness prompts the production of melatonin, an essential sleep-promoting hormone, so the ability to completely black-out your bedroom would be ideal.
Quiet Mark certified Silent Gliss motorised roller blinds, allow you to shade your room from translucent to blackout by choosing from their wide fabric selection. The blinds systems feature virtually silent operation, programmable intermediate stops and a built-in safety stop if the movement is interrupted.
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