ARTICLE: “NATURE REALLY IS MEDICINE, THIS CAREGIVER LEARNED”
By Sarah White
Generations Now - American Society on Aging (November 30, 2022)
“Sit in my chair in that sunshine and look at my tree – it’s medicine,” my 97-year-old mother said, just days before she died. I knew she was right. Almost two years prior, before I had moved her to this sunny room, she had nearly given up on life. The first assisted living facility I had found for her had been attractive, but in its architectural design, no thought had been given to connection with nature. “Access to nature returned my mother’s will to live—and made me a biophilia advocate,” writes Sarah White. Continue reading… The author also provides links to relevant research and describes Biophilic design principles (e.g. sensory stimuli, the presence of water, dynamic and diffuse light) which can be incorporated into places where older adults are housed or treated.
|