Image: Bonnie Doon House
Good
Wood.
Wood: Good for Everybody
As a material, builders, architects and homeowners readily choose wood for its functional purposes, environmental credentials and aesthetic qualities. What you might not know, however, is that timber has yet another string to its bow: it can promote human well-being.
Research shows that wood can offer us much more than aesthetic appeal. An increasing body of evidence has recently suggested that including timber in built environments enhances a feeling of physical well-being. In fact, there’s now an architectural movement specifically concerned with designing to complement the brain and body’s responses known as “neuro-architecture”.
All the information in this article was found in Planet Ark’s report Wood – Nature Inspired Design. You can access the full report via the ‘Make It Wood’ Website.
Interacting with Wood
The way humans interact with wood on a physiological level all comes down to our sympathetic nervous systems.
Our nervous system reacts when the body detects stress by increasing our heart rate and blood pressure among other effects. Long-term exposure to stress-inducing environments equates to enduring deleterious physical responses which can lead to poor health. Interestingly, in built environments, these symptoms have been shown to be alleviated by the presence of wood.
The results of the studies are compelling. For example, a Japanese study comparing the physiological response of 14 people sitting in wooden or steel wall panelling found that exposure to wooden panels decreased subjects’ blood pressure. Meanwhile, exposure to steel was found to significantly increase blood pressure.
Direct Benefits of Wood
It would appear that exposure to wood directly benefits us physiologically.
An Austrian study compared the heart rates of 30 people sleeping in a pinewood bed with people sleeping in an imitation wood bed over a three-week period. Astonishingly, sleeping in the pine bed reduced participants’ heart rates by 3500 beats daily compared to the other test group.
Another study conducted over the course of a year examined 36 high school students taught in either a classroom furbished largely out of solid wood versus one with a linoleum floor, plasterboard walls, and chipboard cupboards. Students taught in the former room displayed lowered heart rates and even decreased perception of stress. By contrast, students in the latter classroom experienced the opposite outcomes.
Wood – Playing a Crucial Role in the Built Environment
It is thrilling to watch new evidence emerge that proves the crucial role that timber plays in built environments.
Moreover, as we discover the strengths of wood we are also able to understand how other materials adversely impact our physiology. We can use this information to design and develop spaces specially optimized to enhance well-being – particularly in workplaces and schools, which are generally known to be stressful environments.
