A Smart Home Should Be A Wellness Sanctuary

How can technology transform the home for wellness?

For all of my life I’ve been told that diet and exercise are the keys to being healthy, but in my forties, I’m discovering that there are many more factors that contribute to my overall physical, emotional and spiritual well-being. Is it possible that the environment in my home is a significant factor in my own personal wellness? If so, then how can I find ways to improve it?

New technologies have begun to emerge that help us to control our environments in order to actually improve quality of life. It’s an exciting time in the home technology world because we see that what we’re doing can really make a difference. Technologically advanced homes should be designed to support wellness.

Sleep and Stress

Carli Kilgore is an Integrative and Functional Medicine Registered Dietitian (RD), Licensed Dietitian (LD) and real food + wellness expert in Houston, Texas — wellnessbycarli.com. She says, “If sleep and stress are not under control or in balance, then all bets are off. It doesn’t matter what you eat or what supplements you take. Sleep is when all of our neurotransmitters reset, it’s when our hormones reset. There’s so much repair that happens overnight.” So, how are you sleeping? Carli says that sleeping in the dark is important because “any light that is hitting receptors in the skin is going to effect your cortisol levels.”

I can say that from my own experience, I sleep so much better with our blackout shades and drapes in the master bedroom. The way that we wake up also really matters. On our Crestron home automation system, we have a program we call dawn simulation that is a natural, calm way to wake up in the morning. Shades and drapes open gradually and lights begin to ramp up over a 30 minute period before our alarms go off.

Circadian Rhythm and Human Centric Lighting

Whole home lighting controls for years have been about convenience and energy management. Today, it’s also about well-being. Circadian rhythm is the natural internal process of our 24 hour sleep and wake cycle. William W. Stubbs, IIDA, is an interior designer, author, and television show host recognized by Architectural Digest as one of its top AD 100 designers. Bill says, “I’ve been talking about circadian rhythm now for twenty years. When I started putting in lighting control systems, which has been 15 plus years ago, it was all about that. You should change the mood of the room as the day progresses. It’s like the old pattern when you were a child. You took a bath… read a book… got tucked in… as adults we have gotten away from that rhythm and how to prepare for bed.”

Kilgore says, “ I think it’s very relevant. So taking it back to hunter-gatherer days: those amber lights we used to sit around the campfire and see… those help indicate that the sun has set, and now it’s time for cortisol to go down, which prepares us for sleep and helps the pineal gland recognize that it’s time to increase melatonin production. Then in the morning after sun rises, getting that exposure to the sun can really ramp up your cortisol when it’s supposed to be ramped up. This helps drive energy. That cascade of the color exposures on our retinas and our skin is the primary way to regulate our REM cycle.”

In addition to lights gradually coming up in the morning, our drapes close at sunset and the lights dim to a late night scene all over the house. It’s nice to have that happen automatically without having to think about it. Our home system actually helps us to relax at night.

Air Quality

Air quality in the home really matters. Jonathan Brewer with Quality Air in Houston says that, “Every product you bring into the home has the potential to “off-gas” and introduce volatile organic compounds (VOC) into the home. Controlled ventilation is one way to dilute VOCs. Typically, you’d use an ERV system to bring in fresh air from the outside. Another way to reduce VOCs and allergens is by filtration. Make sure media and activated carbon filters are regularly exchanged.” Also, I’d add that a properly designed system would be able to report air quality, carbon monoxide, humidity, and temperature. It would allow for scheduling features to be easily set up so that you live in the space without having to think about making constant adjustments.

EMF Pollution in the Home

EMF pollution is the idea that radio waves, microwaves, and signals swimming around in the air can have an adverse effect on our health. The jury may still be out on whether WiFi, Cellular, Cordless Phones, and other radio frequency emitting devices are harmful. But if you’re concerned about that, it would be nice if those systems turned themselves off and back on automatically. With a modern home automation system, this is something that you wouldn’t have to think about. We’re also able to hard wire most network connections which reduces the EMF in the air. The welcomed side effect is that hard wired connections are more reliable than wireless.

Water Quality

I asked Carli if there was one thing that she could get her clients, friends, and loved ones to change about their homes, what would it be? “I’d have to go with the water for sure. We cook with it, we drink it, we bathe in it. Our skin is our largest organ, right? It’s the way we absorb things most efficiently. If you’re not using clean water, your body isn’t clean. So, I have to go with the water.” She says, “People throw prescription medications down the sink, there is chlorine in our water, there are so many chemicals that treat our water. There’s even arsenic in the water and bacteria in the water. If it’s not filtered, our bodies have such a greater load to bear in terms of detoxification. The liver is really the unsung hero of the whole body. If it’s weighed down by the job of detoxing from our water not being clean, then there are other processes that are going to be effected. So, yeah, that’s a big source of toxicity in everyone’s world, and a lot of people are not really aware of it: how dirty our water can be. I’m a big fan of high quality filtration.”

Form and Function

I asked Bill when we should start thinking about wellness in the process of designing a home. “Many times, I’m lucky enough to be a part of the architectural team at the beginning of the project. I think about it from day one. I think about the location of the windows and how they effect sunlight. I think about where we’ll have shades and be able to create a dark space. How will the sound travel throughout the house? All of those things to me begin with the architecture. At whatever stage I get involved in the project, I’m thinking about these things. I can make a beautiful room in my sleep. But a beautiful, functioning room that addresses all these needs is something that takes some thought. Also, you want to make sure you’re using everything that’s current and cutting edge. I wouldn’t rely on what’s worked in the past since there are so many new and amazing things available.”

A Wellness Sanctuary

We all want to feel like our homes are the safest place to be. For years we have provided security and surveillance to help with that. But now we are working to make homes safe for people to live in. The home should be an escape from the toxins of the world and a place where we can relax, replenish, recuperate, and rejoice living together. With the home technology that we now have available, we can truly make our homes a wellness sanctuary.