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How to use smart home technology to enhance your health and wellness

Writer's picture: SmartstartSmartstart

Updated: Oct 18, 2024

Wellness is certainly a buzz word at the moment, but can smart home technology actually help?


Woman relaxing using smart home technology to relax

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Essentially, your daily habits can add up to allow you to improve your physical and mental health, so instead of just surviving, you can thrive. But can technology actually help us make better habits?


Let's look at what your smart home can do for you and how it could promote health, reduce stress and improve the quality of your life.


The quality of your air can make a big difference


Air quality is a critical factor in our overall health and indoor air pollution can be even worse than outdoor pollution, especially in urban areas. Smart home technology offers innovative solutions to monitor and improve indoor air quality, which is a big step towards improving your overall health.


Common Indoor Air Pollutants:


  • Particulate Matter: Tiny particles from various sources, including dust, pollen, and combustion.

  • Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs): Chemicals emitted from paints, cleaners, furniture, and other household products.

  • Carbon Monoxide: A colourless, odourless gas produced by incomplete combustion.

  • Carbon Dioxide: A naturally occurring gas that can build up indoors.

  • Radon: A radioactive gas that is released from uranium deposits found in the earth and varies depending on your location.


Health Impacts of Poor Air Quality:


  • Respiratory problems (e.g., asthma, allergies)

  • Headaches and fatigue

  • Irritated eyes, nose, and throat

  • Long-term health risks, including heart disease and cancer



Air Quality Sensors


There are now more options than ever to monitor the quality of the air in your home, not only keeping you informed, but even allowing you to automate your smart home based on the readings. 


Most sensors will detect particulate matter, but the more advanced options will detect a wider range of particle sizes, or even particles that others will miss. Also, detecting VOC’s, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide are fairly standard when it comes to mid-range sensors. However, radon sensors are much less common and normally reserved for the most premium models. 


Radon is generally quite predictable where it occurs and you can typically find government survey maps that indicate if you are in an area where it occurs in higher volumes.


What can I do If pollutants are detected


A well designed smart home can detect the above pollutants, then take the necessary steps to remove them. In most cases, it’s a pretty simple fix and your smart home can work in the background to keep your air quality at optimum levels. 



Smart air purifier


  • Smart Blinds/Windows: Blinds and curtains can be programmed to adjust based on air quality and sunlight, helping to regulate temperature and humidity. Windows and skylights can also be motorised so that they open and close to regulate air quality, temperature and humidity. You can even have sensors to close the windows automatically when they detect rain. 


  • Smart Appliances: Some appliances, like air purifiers and dehumidifiers, can be integrated into your smart home system for automated control. Even robot vacuums can help as they often include HEPA filters which can improve air quality and reduce common pollutants such as dust, pet dander, pollen, particulate matter and gaseous pollutants. 


  • Automations: By linking the above systems together, you can create a smart home that makes decisions for you about your air quality. Your heating/cooling system can be activated automatically and even fans can turn themselves on and off too. Air purifiers and dehumidifiers can be activated to keep your home within set levels too, while robot vacuums can be automatically run as well to ensure the air in your home is as clean as possible. If you prefer to be more in control, you can get alerts on your devices, receive an audio cue from your smart speakers, or even have the lights flash when the air quality is low.


Mental Health


Smart home technology can create personalised and automated environments that can contribute to a sense of calm, reduce stress and improve our overall well-being. By simply having a peaceful home environment that is comfortable, secure and automated, you will be able to truly relax as the everyday jobs around you are all taken care of.



Relaxing indoor lighting


Creating a serene environment


One of the most direct ways your smart home can improve mental health is by creating a serene atmosphere. Smart lighting systems can be programmed to simulate natural sunlight, helping to regulate circadian rhythms and improve sleep quality. This can be particularly helpful for individuals struggling with seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Additionally, smart thermostats can maintain optimal temperatures, ensuring comfort which allows you to fully relax.


Want to find out more about how to improve wellness with smart lighting? Check out our blog: Illuminating Wellness: The Effect of Smart Lighting Design on Health and Your Circadian Rhythm


Reducing Stress and Anxiety


Smart home automation can significantly reduce daily stress by automating routine tasks like turning off lights or locking doors, so you can free up mental space and focus on more important matters. Smart speakers can be used to set reminders, play soothing music, or access guided meditation sessions to help you manage stress and anxiety effectively.


Personalised Environments


Smart homes offer the ability to create highly personalised environments tailored to your individual needs and preferences. Your dream home can play your favourite music when you walk through the door, keep the temperature exactly how you like it and even run lighting scenes at just the right time to optimise your mood and productivity. If you use mindfulness or meditation apps, your lights could dim at your chosen time to remind you to take a moment. The idea of creating a space that is matched perfectly to you certainly has its appeals.


Physical Health


Smart homes have the potential to significantly improve our physical health by integrating technology into our daily lives. It’s possible to create environments that promote a healthier, more active lifestyle, monitor your existing habits and make suggestions about how you can improve.



Fitness tracker


Activity Tracking and Motivation


One of the most prominent ways smart homes can impact physical health is through activity tracking. Smart fitness trackers and smartwatches can monitor daily steps, heart rate, sleep patterns, and other vital metrics. This data can provide valuable insights into our overall health and fitness levels, motivating us to increase our activity levels and make healthier choices.


Personalised Health Insights


Smart home devices can collect data from various sources, including wearable technology, air quality sensors, and sleep trackers. This data can be analysed to provide personalised health insights. For example, a smart home system might suggest adjusting the temperature to improve sleep quality or recommend increasing activity levels based on heart rate data.


Creating a Healthier Environment


As mentioned above, smart homes can also create a healthier environment by maintaining optimal temperatures to reduce the risk of illness, improve indoor air quality to minimise respiratory problems and simulate natural sunlight, helping to regulate circadian rhythms and improve sleep quality.


Possible drawbacks


While technology can certainly make your life better, it can potentially do the opposite. A smart home that requires you to constantly fiddle with settings or manually have to trigger things will not have the desired effect. In some cases, poorly designed products or automations might make your life more complicated and it is crucial you don’t fall into the smart home traps that exist. 


Any product you decide to go for should make your life easier, while still retaining the functionality of whatever it replaced. A smart door lock should be able to work as a door lock even without power or connectivity. You should be able to turn an air purifier on or off easily without an app and if you have guests around, they should still be able to turn the lights on.


With social media becoming so prevalent, endless scrolling can have very negative impacts on mental health and create an unrealistic view of the world by hyper focusing the content you see based on your activity. Your physical health may suffer too as you might spend less time moving and instead choose to spend time on a device or in front of a screen of some type. 


All of these issues can be avoided, but it is important to recognise them when creating the perfect smart home, as you will probably be spending a lot of time there.


Will you actually notice improvements in your life?


Smart homes can offer a holistic approach to improving health and well-being and by integrating technology into our daily lives, we can create ideal environments that promote a healthier lifestyle.


By improving your air quality, using technology to improve your physical and mental health and personalising your environment with scheduling and automations, you can start to improve aspects of your life that you might not have realised were possible. The power of smart home technology can create a living space that supports your overall health and well-being, and as smart home technology continues to evolve, we can expect even greater advancements in promoting wellness.


If you're interested in learning more about smart home insights, tips, how-to's and more, visit our blog and subscribe to stay in the loop.



If you want to create your own dream smart home and you live in the south of England, why not book a free, no obligation smart home survey to discover the full potential of your home.





If you would like to know more about anything above, we would love to hear from you.



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