The benefits of wood: the physical and psychological well-being that parquet brings

Opting for wood for parquet flooring in one’s home or office is not just an aesthetic and elegant choice. Wood actually brings a long list of benefits on the psyche and body of those who live in contact with it every day.

Wood and psychological health

From the lightest parquet to dark wood, natural oak suits every style of decor. Thus in Casa Angiolina, the color of the Neutral prefinished oak parquet flooring, with its warm honey-colored shade, defines the rooms, creating contrast and harmony of the whole, enhancing the elegant decorations for a sober and contemporary final result. Formerly an office space and now a refined apartment on the fifth floor of a historic building located in the heart of the Neapolitan city, this renovation project, curated by the team of FADD Architects, was designed for a young couple with a child.

Among the benefits on the mind of those who own a wood floor certainly include:

• Stress and heart rate reduction: institutions such as the University of British Columbia and the FPInnovations Institute have shown through studies that eye and physical contact with wood surfaces reduces perceived stress levels, lowers heart rate and helps stabilize blood pressure. These are effects that are not far removed from those found with contact with nature, because wood brings with it the“biophilic effect,” or the instinctive connection between humans and natural elements, a concept surely derived from our evolution.
• Improved mood and concentration: indoor environments in which wood flooring has been used, especially when combined with furniture and/or other natural finishes, increase greater benefits and emotional well-being. This is because, the photosynthesis that trees perform while still in nature allows the wood fibers, accumulated precisely during the process, to retain solar energy and organic matter that positively affects our bodies. This is then transformed into a welcoming and stable feeling, making wood particularly suitable for living spaces, schools and offices.
• Cleaner air: wood, is also known to be a hygroscopic material, meaning it can absorb moisture in the environment and thus contribute to the regulation of the indoor microclimate . In addition, it can filter toxic substances in the air, improving the overall quality of living spaces.

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Parallelism with the psychology of color environment

The properties of wood can be related to color choices for walls or entire rooms in common places such as hospitals and schools. Just as certain precise colors, such as green, blue, and yellow, are used to create a calm atmosphere and improve concentration, wood instead generates a feeling of naturalness and serenity. In educational settings, as shown by research in environmental psychology, theuse of natural materials and warm tones stimulates creativity and reduces students’ stress.

Thus, these studies provide insight into how much the environment we live with every day affects psychophysical well-being. All over the world for decades, the same strategy has been used in public areas precisely because the benefits that colors bring to the psyche are now known. By the same process, wood, with its warm tones and texture that we obviously associate with nature, would also bring in us the mental and psychological benefits discussed in the previous paragraph.
If you want to learn more about this topic, you can do so here, a scientific article on human behavior in contact with colors and the environment.

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Physical benefits of contact with wood

• Reduction of static electricity: in contratio from synthetic materials such as PVC, wood does not charge electrostatically, rather it is an electrical insulator, and thus contributes to greater comfort, especially for allergy sufferers.
• Beneficial tactile effects: studies show that walking barefoot on wooden floors gives a pleasant, unique and relaxing feeling as well as warmth. In fact, parquet floors are known to maintain a generally milder temperature than ceramic or PVC floors.
• Timeless aesthetics: owning a wood floor increases the perception of the quality of spaces that being natural surfaces, which give visual and physical warmth.

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