It is no secret that our environment has everything to do with how we feel and how we live. There have been numerous studies on healthy environments in hospitals and how they help people heal. Architecture, lightling, noise reduction, color, light play a huge role in making patients comfortable and keeping them calm and conducive to healing.
It is no secret that our environment has everything to do with how we feel and how we live. There have been numerous studies on healthy environments in hospitals and how they help people heal. Architecture, lightling, noise reduction, color, light play a huge role in making patients comfortable and keeping them calm and conducive to healing.
Delos Real Estate has taken this concept into homes and offices and is constructing solutions for improving health and wellness where people live and work.
Delos has done a good job of gathering and organizing studies and reviewing articles on wellness and the environment. They have created a very cool interactive graphic representing their database of over 1000 peer-reviewed studies. On the left is an image of the graphic; to see the interactivity, please click here
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Delos has some impressive people on the Advisory Board: Dick Gephardt, Former US Congressman and House of Representatives, Dr. Michael Rolzen, Chief Wellness Officer, Cleveland Clinic, and Dr Deepak Choprs, Founder, Chopra Foundation, to name a few. On their team, they have a number of doctors from the Research department at Columbia University Medical Center.
In a pretty creative marketing move, Delos has created the WELL Building Standard that they hope will become an industry standard for protecting human health (much like the LEED standard for sustainability). The WELL building standard is explained on the website as follows:
“The WELL Building Standard uses a holistic approach that begins with the philosophy that a building should do no harm. It outlines an aggressive and achievable guideline for limiting pollutants, toxins and other environment conditions that pose immediate and long-term threats to health. Certification will provide assurance that a building is safe from harmful conditions, and is optimally supportive of every component necessary for a healthy lifestyle. Silver and gold certification levels go beyond baseline preconditions, setting guidelines for additional features that can positively impact health and wellness.”
Delos goes on to explain the concept of the WELL standard by dividing it into 7 categories:
- Air – Agressive, performance-based requirements ensuring the highest level of indoor air quality.
- Water – Requirements for the highest level of safety for drinking water.
- Nourishment – Access to convenient and healthy food preparation through steaming, juicing and blending, as well as access to educational resources and advanced nutrient-tracking software and services.
- Light – The WELL standard represents the world’s first approach for incorporating the many benefits of the right timing, intensity and color of light on human health.
- Fitness – The WELL standard outlines design techniques that help raise occupants’ daily physical activity levels as well as providing access to gyms and dedicated exercise spaces.
- Comfort – The WELL standard ensures that buildings are designed and operated with comfort in mind, including noise levels, temperature and humidity, electromagnetic radiation, ergonomic design and building materials.
- Mind – The WELL standard seeks to reduce stress and support emotional and cognitive well-being.
One of the Delos projects is the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas where they have created 42 hotel suites as Stay Well rooms. These rooms come at a $30 premium upgrade. They are all on the 14th floor where smoking and pets are not allowed and the rooms include 18 amenities said to aid in healthy living.
Lighting is soft and more natural and is said to fight jet lag as well. The Stay Well rooms are cleaned with hypoallergenic products and ultra-violet sanitizing equipment. A nontoxic, antimicrobial coating is used throughout the room to protect against pollution, viruses and bacteria. A special air purification system leaves the rooms odor-free. Electromagnetic field panels block electrical currents that could be bothersome.
The rooms are equipped with hypoallergenic linens, water filters, a vitamin C infused shower, oils for aromatherapy and hypoallergenic hand and body soap.
A Stay Well TV channel offers content specially designed for those interested in health and wellness and guests can also participate in a 6 week online wellness program focused on healthy living.
Sources:
http://www.travelweekly.com/North-America-Travel/Clean-living-at-MGM-Grand-rooms/
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