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When it comes to health and wellness, there’s a tremendous focus on diet and exercise. And rightly so. These factors play a significant role in how long and well we live.
But it turns out that where you live also makes a significant difference. If you’re a classical-type person, living in an ugly modern city will undoubtedly have an undesirable effect on your well-being because of the lack of order, disjointed architecture, and ugly street furniture. The lack of nature or open green space may also take its toll on you.
When you live in a beautiful area, it has the opposite effect. Many people discover it fundamentally changes how they feel. Instead of feeling uneasy, they suddenly appreciate the beauty around them.
But why specifically is moving to a beautiful area good for health? Let’s take a look.
We’re Wired To Love Beauty
Most of us instinctively know that human beings are wired to appreciate peace and tranquillity. However, we are less clear on the benefits of beauty.
It turns out, though, that that too is something that is vitally important to most of us. It’s why architects historically designed stunning buildings, like guild halls and cathedrals. It was a way to elevate the entire community and provide motivation to people.
It also explains why most people are attracted to certain beautiful people. There’s a deep desire for order and symmetry that plays out in mating strategies.
Living in a beautiful place positively affects health in similar ways to being a member of an active community or getting up at sunrise. It’s something that aligns with our basic biology.
As sites like https://thedriftway.com/ point out, many people are willing to pay a premium to live next to lakes and rivers. Beauty is expensive precisely because it is so desirable.
We Feel Good In Beautiful Places
Why are travel blogs so stupendously popular? Partly, it has to do with beauty. People see images of places they would love to visit online and then commit to going there, precisely because of the way they look.
(Of course, when they get there, they can experience disappointment. But that doesn’t detract from the fact that it is the beauty of certain locations that makes them so fantastically attractive).
Research backs up the idea that we like being in beautiful places, like nature. Walking along a windswept coast or through an ancient forest is a naturally uplifting experience. There’s no ugliness to be seen anywhere: just the perfection of nature. Being immersed in these environments fundamentally changes how we feel and enables us to thrive biochemically. This could explain why doctors shipped so many people off to sanatoria in the past – essentially beautiful country retreats surrounded by nature that lent themselves to more effective convalescence.
We Feel More At Ease
Finally, being in a beautiful place helps us to feel more at ease which lowers stress levels and reduces feelings of dysphoria, according to https://www.cnbc.com/. Less chaos in the environment makes it easier to manage the external world, reducing stress levels significantly.
