The best strategy for finding a new home starts with the core fundamentals of general wellness such as diet, activity, social life, and rest. With external environmental and social hazards being the secret dangers in your home, probing questions about a home's health risks can be the deciding factors while on the extensive search for a new home.
How to Find a Home Based on Your Lifestyle Needs
Have you been feeling anxious or exhausted? Have you had trouble sleeping?
As you search for a new place to live, look for a home where you can access the sunrise to help set your sleep schedule. Features such as east-facing windows and patios are one way a home will help increase your quality of life. Base your home search on what living conditions and features are suitable for your overall wellness. Let's look at some of those features.
Location Questions to Consider When Home Buying
It is essential to know about the demographics, climate, and social make-up of where you're buying a home. To find a home that caters to your taste, mental, and physical health, consider these questions as a guide:
● What kind of weather elevates your mood?
● What's your needed or preferred form of transportation?
● Is the area polluted?
● Do you have allergies?
● Does this county endure frequent natural disasters?
● What outdoor activities do you enjoy?
● Do you have specific dietary needs? If so, are those items accessible?
● What is the crime rate in the area?
● How far is the nearest hospital?
These questions all correlate with geomedicine (also known as geospatial data), which is a public health term for how location can affect individual health. This new field of study says that where we live, work and play can either reduce or increase exposure to external environmental and social hazards.
A few examples of environmental hazards are air pollution, extreme weather, and chemical exposure. Social hazards or complex emergencies can be obstacles such as restricted access to health services, drinkable water, healthy food, and reliable transportation.
Through geomedicine, the effects of potential hazards are tracked to find trends between an individual's overall health and geographic location.
For example, during World War II, lower-income families moved to an area in the shadows of the Chevron Richmond Refinery in California. They were surrounded by industries driving diesel, gasoline, jet fuel, and other chemical products. To this day, Richmond residents live in a ring of major oil refineries.
Communities like Richmond tend to be flooded by decades of toxic industrial emissions polluting the air - penetrating the ozone layer and residents' lungs. These individuals frequent hospitals with asthma and have a higher risk of dying from heart disease and stroke due to where they live.
Reflecting on that data, we recall instances in which a friend suddenly had allergies once they relocated to a new town or a family member acquired bronchitis after their move.
Whether you are building your house from the ground up or are shopping around, you will find that location alone can lead you to the right home in a suitable and healthy space.
Bonus insurance tip: Ask the current homeowner about past claims they have made on the property. This information isn't always given through the home buying process and can affect your future insurance rates. Also, living in areas with low crime rates and nearby hospitals will reduce your homeowners insurance premiums.
What matters most when buying a house?
Traditional house hunting is the search for a perfect dream home while focusing on the various real estate trends and market value. A holistic approach to house-hunting incorporates the same traditional values while reinforcing long-term investment strategies.
Expanding your view past the interior and design aesthetics of a home will help you save money while secretly taking better care of your health. Defining your own meaning of "home" before beginning the buying process will help you narrow the market and choose the best property for you.
Preferences can range from square footage to updated appliances and fixtures, but what matters most is affordability. Market trends that are likely to steal a buyer's heart are often the real estate components that increase property taxes, housing costs, and home insurance.
Where is the best place to buy a house right now?
When asked what matters most when buying a home, people will have different answers.
While gaining assets may be on the radar for some, home buyers are rarely concerned about a home's environmental effects. For protecting your investment and physical health, doing extensive research beyond weather reports could be lifesaving.
For example, sunny California is known for its food, culture, and great weather. Still, according to the American Lung Association, 70 percent of California residents live in an area with unhealthy air quality.
The American Lung Association has created a "State of the Air Report" that issues annual report cards for air quality data. According to that data, anyone can examine which cities have been graded the highest and the lowest and see how their city compares.
To avoid the secret dangers of ozone and particle pollution, a list of the top cities with the cleanest air includes:
● Honolulu, HI
● Cheyenne, WY
● Wilmington, NC
● Altoona-Huntingdon, PA
● Bismarck, ND
● Brownsville-Harlingen-Raymondville, TX
Google Maps and Zillow have features that allow you to evaluate a neighborhood and its potential impact on your health. Choosing a home in a location with good air quality also reduces risks of extreme weather disasters such as forest fires, which reduces homeowners insurance premiums.
Bonus tip: The answer to having cleaner air doesn't have to involve moving. Even placing an air purifier in one or more rooms of your home will improve your air quality no matter where you live.
Clean Environments Mean Healthier Homes
There are places in the world where people are known to live longer, healthier, happier lives. These places tend to be abundant in the sunshine, large parks, clean water, fresh air, and organically grown food.
Throughout humankind, we have seen connections between mental and physical health and geography. The geographical location of a person's home affects their mood as well as their physical, mental, and emotional health. Even with the best interior design team, nothing beats a home with a good foundation and great community.
Be unafraid to imagine your dream home and lifestyle. From what the rooms in your home look like to how you'll do everyday things like park your car all influence your home buying decision.
The choices we make now can prolong our life in the long run. So ask yourself, "Am I living in the most optimal environment for my health and longevity?" Because the life you dream of is waiting for you in your new home.
About The Author: Danielle Beck-Hunter writes and researches for the insurance comparison site, InsuranceProviders.com. Danielle is a young homeowner who believes that every aspect of living is a part of maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
