With most of us locked in our homes, the time has come to consider some home upgrades that might boost our health. We can’t get to the gym or the spa, so we might as well splurge a little on improvements here and there. If anything, it’ll make waiting for the end of the current restrictions on our lives a little easier. And once they’re over, we can emerge all the stronger.
Here are some home improvement ideas that will not only boost your quality of life but also support your health.
Improving Natural Lighting
Human beings evolved to be outdoors. For that reason, we developed an intimate relationship with natural light on a biological level. We need sunlight on our skin, for instance, to produce vitamin D - an essential nutrient we can’t survive without. Lighting also regulates our circadian rhythm, telling us when to wake up and when to go to sleep.
Improving natural lighting in your home is easy. Here are some ideas:
Install skylights in your attic or single-story sections of your home
Paint walls in bright, reflective colors to maximize natural daylight coming through your windows
Install bigger windows
Use mirrors to bounce incoming light around your rooms
Install A Water Filter At The Mains
If you don’t like the taste of water directly from the faucet, you’re not alone. It’s usually full of chlorine and a bunch of other nasties, including heavy metals. Many people, therefore, now use a home master filter. It puts an end to the need to have to refill water filtration devices continually. And it means that all the water sources in your home are free of contaminants that could harm your health, both short and long-term.
Install A Gym
Getting the recommended 150 minutes of physical activity you need to stay healthy every week is a challenge under lockdown. Adding a home gym, therefore, could be a smart investment. All you need to do is flop out of bed, walk downstairs, and all your equipment is waiting patiently for you, ready to use. It saves all the time traveling to and from the gym (when things return to normal), and over the long-term, you’ll spend less money.
Installing a home gym may even encourage you to work out more. If you’re like a lot of people, you don’t actually like exercising in public. So having the ability to do so in the privacy of your own home could be a massive benefit.
Update Your Plumbing
We all know that water is the healthiest beverage. But if you take your H2O through old plumbing, you could be setting yourself up for a health disaster. Lead pipes are still a feature of many homes - and a source of contamination. And many homes have leaky or cracked pipes that allow contaminants to infiltrate.
Upgrading your plumbing typically involves getting a trained plumber to check the system, test for contaminants, and replace sections of pipe. If you notice a strange taste or water discoloration, call them up immediately.