Healthy ageing does not end at the body's borders - it continues in the spaces that surround us every day.
This sentence deliberately marks the beginning of my contribution today.
Because it touches something that many people intuitively feel - but rarely put into words.
Our rooms are always there.
In the morning, when we are still tired.
In the evening, when we actually want to relax.
In conversations, in conflicts, in quiet moments when nobody is watching.
And perhaps you have already experienced this yourself:
Some places immediately feel right. Others make us feel tighter inside - without us being able to say exactly why.
This blog is an invitation to follow this Why cautiously closer.
Not analytically cool. But with attention, respect and an open heart.
In the → last blog post we have familiarised ourselves with the concept of three skins (Skin_1-3) busy:
the biological skin, our clothing as a second skin - and the third skin that surrounds us: the room.
If we take this thought further, it becomes clear:
We are no longer „only“ on the outside.
We are in the centre of Skin_3.
Our living and working spaces act like an extended body shell.
They protect, regulate, demarcate - or leave us defenceless, overstimulated, exhausted.
Just like our skin, Skin_3 reacts sensitively to excessive demands, neglect or lack of care.
Perhaps this explains why some rooms feel as if we constantly have to pull ourselves together.
And why others allow us to let go as a matter of course.
Skin_3 is not a decorative frame.
It is an active part of our self-care system - and therefore a central factor for Healthy Longevity.
We often think that rooms are neutral.
Four walls. One roof. One interior.
But our body experiences them differently.
It registers light and darkness.
It hears sounds even before we consciously categorise them.
He subtly smells his surroundings and unconsciously relives past experiences.
It reacts to narrowness or expansiveness, to order or excessive demands, to the possibility of withdrawing - or not.
All this happens quietly.
Not dramatic.
But continuously.
Rooms are the silent background to our everyday lives.
And that is precisely why they shape how we feel, how we react - and how much strength we have left at the end of the day.
Many people today take very conscious care of their health.
They exercise, pay attention to their diet and work on their inner balance.
And yet sometimes there is still a feeling of tiredness, inner restlessness or a slight overload that cannot be fully explained.
Maybe it's not due to a lack of discipline.
Perhaps not because of a lack of mindfulness.
Maybe it's because the place where all this is supposed to take place doesn't really support it.
A room can calm you down - or activate you permanently.
It can collect - or disperse.
It can enable closeness - or make it imperceptibly more difficult.
Healthy ageing therefore requires more than just good habits.
It needs a sustainable framework.
Many people who come to me say things like:
„I'm actually doing well - and yet I can't really relax.“
Or: „I don't even know why I often feel tense at home.“
These experiences should be taken seriously.
Because not every stress has a clear trigger.
Some forms of stress are not caused by individual events, but by what is permanently at work in the background.
Day after day. Night after night.
Spaces play a bigger role than we are used to thinking.
In my practice, I often meet people who have „done everything right“:
Spacious houses, high-quality materials, perfect architecture - and yet sleeplessness, restlessness, withdrawal or relationship tensions.
The reason rarely lies in the individual.
But in the lack of Congruence.
Congruence means fit:
If this fit is missing, there will be no loud conflict
but chronic microstress.
Quiet. Permanent. Gruelling.
Spaces structure the way we live together.
They decide how easily closeness is created - and whether withdrawal is possible without feelings of guilt or justification.
When rooms have no clear zones, when everything is open, loud or permanently present, tensions arise that are often misunderstood as personal or emotional problems.
These are often very simple questions:
Where can I withdraw?
Where am I visible - and where am I protected?
Do I have my personal niche?
Rooms answer these questions - whether we like it or not.
A common misconception is that we can get used to anything.
Perhaps our mind does.
However, our nervous system remains alert.
Permanent stimuli - light, noise, visual disturbance - remain stimuli.
Even when we are no longer consciously aware of them.
That's why rooms can cost energy in the long run.
Or they can give back strength.
Salutogenic room design poses a simple but profound question:
Does this space support my health - or does it challenge it?
It's not about perfection.
It's about coherence.
To rooms that:
Organise perception instead of overwhelming it
Enabling recovery instead of preventing it
be allowed to adapt to life phases
Allow personal appropriation
and convey the feeling: I am allowed to be here.
Such rooms do not always have to look spectacular.
But they have a lasting effect.
If you have sensed while reading that your rooms have more to do with your well-being than you previously assumed, then this is no coincidence.
Space Coaching combines spatial and living psychology with salutogenic principles and your current phase of life.
It's not about beautiful concepts from the outside, but about a solution that for you is consistent.
👉 You can find more information here:
Healthy ageing does not mean doing more and more.
It often means organising your own life in such a way that it is sustainable.
Rooms can exhaust us quietly.
Or they can keep us quiet.
When we start to consciously recognise and include them, something very valuable emerges:
more peace, more inner order, more connectedness - with ourselves and with others.
Perhaps this is where Healthy Longevity begins.
Not spectacular.
But noticeable.
