Impact on health and well-being
As we spend so much time indoors, the indoor environment can make a dramatic impact — both positively or negatively — on our health and well-being.
We spend 90% of our time indoors
Where does this very much-quoted statistic come from?
Surprisingly there were many studies performed at the 20th century gathering human activity patterns and human exposure data. A marginal study conducted in America and published in 2001 was based on the idea of time-budget and money. In other words, a time-budget for a person which has 24-hours of different activities and one wants to quantify or 'money-fy' it.
What do we mean by health and well-being?
Health is the status of a persons physical and mental condition. Good health is about the mind as well as the body, i.e. feeling physically fit and feeling good within our self.
Well-being is the value of the quality of a person's life. In other words, well-being is the state of being comfortable, healthy and happy.
Peoples' health and well-being are determined by a complex combination of many human and environmental factors, including those related to the built environments.
Building-related symptoms and issues
If our indoor environment isn't balanced not only do we have short-term side effects, it also can also cause long-term implications for us.
With repeated, long-term exposure, the risks may increase significantly. Prolonged exposure can potentially lead to the following symptons such as mood changes, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, neurological disorders, cancer, and other health conditions.
Other health effects may show up either years after exposure has occurred or only after long or repeated periods of exposure. These effects, which include some respiratory diseases, heart disease and cancer, can be severely debilitating or fatal.
Find out more about building-related symptoms and issues
How well do you sleep?
Sleep quality is affecting us and our whole day, even our whole life. We spend about 1/3 of our time sleeping, so this time has affect on our health and well-being in our lifes.
Our sleep needs to be restful and restorative. After a good night's sleep, individuals feel mentally sharp and rested. Muscle repair, tissue growth and many other essential processes occur primarily during sleep, thereby affecting wellbeing and quality of life.
And the environment we sleep in — be it outdoors but mainly indoors — has a great effect on quality and quantity of our sleep.
Discover more about sleep quality and its effect
We are biologically adapted for a continuous supply of fresh air.Anonymous