Five Wellness Experiences To Design into Your Home

We all love visiting the spa but almost no one can have a daily appointment. We are just too busy with our professional and personal lives. I have found that having a cold plunge and sauna right at home increases my use to a nearly daily ritual.

This lifelong insomniac is now sleeping eight hours a night! This is the reason I want to share my idea of five wellness experiences to design into your home. Imagine how much better you might feel.

Designing these wellness experiences into your home will help you to practice self-care, be more mindful, and help you be the best, healthiest version of yourself without having to visit the spa or club.

Steam Shower

Incorporating a steam shower into your primary bath can be a boon for your nervous system, skin and circulation. It's just one of the five wellness elements to design into your home.

The relaxation of sitting in a steam room benefits you by relaxing your muscles and improving recovery time from a workout or a weekend of gardening. If you suffer from arthritis it can help with stiff joints as well. The heat of a steam room can influence your steam room can influence your hormones and lower your blood pressure.

Steam is also great for your skin. It opens your pores and help you remove dirt and debris buildup and improve the look of your skin.

The heat of the steam room can also dilate your blood vessels moving blood closer to the skin.

A big bonus of a steam room is the ability to use your personal steam room when you are congested or have bronchitis. While the spa or club would turn you away if you are sick, a steam shower can open your airways and help your breath despite being congested. Just ask any mom who has made a child sit over a steaming pot with a towel on their head, a steam shower is a much more luxury experience.

Sauna

Both traditional and infrared saunas bring many of the same benefits to your home as a steam shower but without the steam. Let’s face it there are people who prefer a dry heat to a high humidity experience.

Beyond relaxation, soothing muscle soreness and improved circulation, saunas can improve daily living for people who suffer with chronic pain and are effective for pain relief.

Saunas also reduce oxidative stress, which is associated with cardiovascular disease, cancer and degenerative diseases like dementia.

Saunas and steam showers aren’t medical treatment so if you are experiencing illness or a degenerative disease always follow the advice of your medical providers.

 

 

Cold Plunge Bath

There is likely a reason the Finns combine a trip to the backyard sauna with a cold dip. Cold plunging has become more popular in recent years throughout the west.

Research indicates that cold plunging may have a positive effect on recovery from exercise, much like saunas and steam showers, by reducing inflammation and soreness.

I can also restore balance to your nervous system by stimulating your vagus nerve. It can also improve cognitive function and mood. I have found it helps my pain from spinal stenosis and makes me feel energized after my morning plunge,

For more on what vagus nerve stimulation can do for you check out this information from the Mayo Clinic.

 

 

Float Pool

A float pool can reduce stress, improve recovery from exercise and has some unique benefits to offer as well.

Float pools can reduce cortisol levels leading to deeper relaxation and calm. While the sensory deprivation might be right for some people, I recommend floating in an open pool as a great way to relieve joint and muscle aches.

In addition, the sensory deprivation can allow your mind to wander, and you can have a burst of creativity and problem solving. I found this episode of the Big Bang Theory were Sheldon and Amy have very different reactions to a float pool.

If you are claustrophobic, a covered float pool is not for you!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm7-d6sDqTI

If you are claustrophobic, a covered float pool is not for you!

Meditation Room

Having a space in your home dedicated to meditation is a way to increase the sense of sanctuary your home can give you.

For the perfect meditation space you should incorporate a comfortable place to sit. That can be a cushion or chair, depending on your preference. Colors you find calming. That can be earthy colors, greens or ocean blues…choose what is calming to you. And lighting that can be softened with a dimmer.

Meditation can help relief stress, improve focus and give you space for reflection and time away from screens.

If you want to improve the experience even more consider adding a scent diffuser and natural elements like live plants to address all of your senses.

If you don’t have space for an entire room consider creating a small altar space that you can use. I have a client who has a small altar in her home with her favorite saint and a bowl for written prayers where she can pray (meditate) daily.  An altar is a great small spot to create a dedicated space even if you don’t have the budget for an entire room.

 

Are you curious about what it is like to work with LiLu Interiors? Check out this recent interview with one of our clients.