While in Germany, I learned the importance of promoting wellness in stressful environments. Our stress levels heavily influence how we interact with a space. Have you ever noticed when you’re flustered you tend to forget things in the grocery store? Versus when you have the whole morning and yet you somehow make it through in only an hour? I experienced something similar when I arrived in Berlin, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.

When you step off a plane, I think we can all agree we revert to basic instincts: eat, clean up, sleep. You don’t want to get lost in an airport trying to get out. Funnily enough, it wasn’t until I had satisfied those basic instincts that I looked back and wondered how the heck I made it through the Berlin airport. I couldn’t even remember, and that is the sign of a wonderfully designed airport and my newfound wellness tools.

Architecture and interior spaces should support the goals and health of the people navigating the space. Whether it’s an airport, your home or the doctor’s office, the space plays a role in human health. In Reykjavik, I had a 1 hour layover. It wasn’t intuitive which way to go once I was off the plane. In fact I ended up at the opposite end of the airport. Luckily, the airport is small so I made it to my gate, but I forgot to get water in my panic and had to make the flight on the tiny cups of water. If I had been arriving at the airport a more seasoned traveler, I might’ve taken more care to read signs and look at my surroundings, but I was anxious to get to my gate and followed the people in front of me.

It feels irresponsible to assume people will be at their baseline state while navigating a space. When we’re more relaxed, we’re able to take in more and observe because we’re not in fight or flight. But if we’re navigating a space in an elevated state of urgency, like I was and many others are in an airport, smaller signs might be hard to spot. Unfortunately, wellness interior design and real estate are relatively new concepts. Many existing places are not designed with humans in mind, but rather to impress.

One thing we can do while through different places in a state of higher stress, is take a moment to mindfully prepare for the experience ahead. My last solo trip was pre-pandemic and pre-Crohn’s. I didn’t know anything about mindfulness yet. I cried no less than three times out of exhaustion and anxiety. This time, I remembered to do deep belly breaths and go slow. While we might be anxious to get to our gate, it saves a lot of energy and frustration when we acknowledge our higher levels of stress and stop and observe. When I took time to breathe, I found my gate a lot more quickly and the blinders came off. I also realized how much I love people watching and enjoyed a conversation with a woman on her way to visit her son in Amsterdam.

While we can’t always change the architecture of a space, we can work on promoting wellness in stressful environments by making sure we’re at a baseline. Ways I love to do this are:

1. If I’m on a plane or in an airport, bringing along some face/body wipes to clean up when I’m feeling tired and grimy.
2. Bringing a blanket to colonoscopies or hospital visits to remind myself of home.
3. Do deep belly breathing when I can feel my chest getting tight.
4. Take my tongue off the roof of my mouth and drop my shoulders.
5. Stick with my meditation practice and save some five minute meditations.
6. Wear sunglasses and listen to binaural beats if I need to reset. Sometimes I’ll also do this right in the grocery store or in overstimulating places.
7. Practice reframing – what about your environment interests you. Play a game of eye-spy with yourself and pick out unique things to observe.
8. Feel your feet on the floor and do a body scan.
9. Make it humorous – laugh at yourself and view the world as you would as a child.