Environment and Healing

Exploring the meaning of environment and healing: Environment implies those conditions that
surround the individuals. It is the immediate conditions that surround the people. It consists of
everything that affects the people in their lifetime. In the literal sense, environment consists of all
the abiotic and biotic elements present around an individual. Environment of an individual always
creates an impact in the lives of an individual. An individual's environment affects the way he/she is
socialized. It plays a huge role in the development of personality among the people. Socialization
of a child is determined by the kind of environment that surrounds the child. In the same way, when
a person falls sic, he/she is expected to get a better environment so that it becomes easy for them
to heal faster. If healing environment is present then the pace of recuperating becomes much
faster. Numerous medical centers in the modem century are employing such medical
administrators who can create the healing environment within the hospital or the nursing so that it
becomes easy for the patients to heal faster.

Healing, on the other hand, is a dynamic process which is subject to change an individual from an
unbalanced state to a balanced state. It naturally increases the level of patience, stamina, well-
being and physical energy of an individual. It restores the individual into their normal state of being.
Therefore, an environment with necessary living conditions can help an individual to heal faster. It
instills hope and faith among the sufferers. Healing is different from curing—in the fact that healing
implies the overall wellbeing of the sufferer but curing implies only the physical wellbeing of the
sufferer. One can be easily cured but to heal from within is a complicated task which can take
place only when the person is offered a better healing environment.

Types of environment and healing: There are different types of healing which helps an individual
to come out of their pathological condition and provides strong emotional base to the patients.
These different types of environment are related with providing healing benefits to the sufferers in
the society. The types of environments are as follows—
• Internal environment—The internal environment is related to the emotional base of the
people. It is the internal environment of the people which instills a spirit of hope and faith
along with positive emotions related to the speedy recuperation. The internal environment
must always be balanced and calm in nature, so that any individual who has a balanced
internal environment can make the other patients feel better by instilling the spirit of hope
and faith in them. It helps the people to wipe out negativity from the lives of others and
reestablish peace and calmness within them with the anticipation of a better future. If a
person is stressed from within then it can harm the person’s health. Emotional stress can
create high blood pressure, rise in sugar level, cardiac arrest and so on. Thus, a peaceful
internal environment can help a person to be physically fit. Internal environment can be
created by various healing methods such as--breath work, relaxing, yoga, tai chi,
meditation.
• Inter-personal environment—Interpersonal environment is created by the people who
immediately forms a person’s surrounding. The primary as well as the secondary relations
of the people in a social structure creates one’s interpersonal environment. People who
have a loving, kind and positive sense of being can help the others to develop a better
inter-personal environment. A positive inter-personal environment is very much essential to
make an individual stay stress free. The social connection of the people must have a
sense of belongingness, care as well as emotional support. Research has shown that
those diseases, which isolates the people from the rest of the community, takes a longtime
to heal than any other type of diseases where one’s interpersonal environment can provide
 the patient with a positive bent of mind. It boosts up one’s immunity level and helps
him/her to recover faster. Trust, compassion as well as honesty are the key elements to
build up a healthy interpersonal relation.
• Behavioral Environment—This environment involves those actions which takes steps to
prevent the illness and improve the health standard of the people. It also implies the
concept of self-care by which a person looks for ways and means to heal faster and come
back to the normal pattern of life. Behavioral environment can be made healthy by
following—proper food choice, exercising regularly as well as avoiding unhealthy
behaviors like drinking excessive alcohol, avoiding taking in drugs and so on. There must
be a motivation within an individual to change his life pattern and switch to a healthy living
standard so that he/she can live a better as well as healthy life ahead. Numerous health
organizations are implementing such measures so that once the patients come within the
periphery of their organization, they are bound to change their behavioral environment by
the means provided to the patients by the.
• External Environment—A person’s external environment is that environment in which
he/she is an active member. People, in their day to day lives, do not realize how much
their external environment affects their health structure, thus, one must strive to create
healing spaces in the society. Research shows that creating healing spaces for an
individual leads to minimum amount of stress and leads to positive thinking. According to
the Journal of Urban Forestry and Urban Greening (2007), “contact with nature, natural
light and soothing colors reduces stress and improves well-being”. One can create an
external healing environment by surrounding oneself with nature, using religious symbols,
glancing family photographs and lastly by simplifying oneself.
Therefore, these different types of environment are ways to build positive emotions of the patients
from within, thereby leading to the quick healing of an individual. These types of environment will
also help a healthy person to stay healthy for a longer period of time.

Theoretical views on environment and healing: Various researches on creating a healthy

environment to promote a healthy lifestyle have been conducted in the past. Healing measures to
adopt a better environment is promoted in the works of various theorists in their researches. Babin,
Hardesty & Suter (2003) have reflected in their study that environmental stimuli affect the cognitive
level of an individual. In a compiled work of Dijkstra (2009), it can be seen through the following
chart that healing environment leads to healthy living of an individual—
Kotler (1973) was one of the first to spotlight the probable impact of the physical environment and
used the term ‘atmospherics’, which is defined as “the effort to design buying environments to
produce specific emotional effects in the buyer that enhance his purchase probability”. Studies by
Bellizzi, Crowly & Hasty, (1983), showed that warm colors induce approachable behavior among
the people. It calms their mind down and makes them stress free. Therefore, numerous studies
have been conducted by which it has been promoted that healing environments indeed creates
positive change in the health structure of an individual.

Environmental influence on healing: The concept of environmental influence on healing is not a

new one. One can refer to history in order to draw the point that environmental factors influences
the health pattern of the individuals. Florence Nightingale was a nursing lady who served all of her
life to care for the soldiers who fought during the Crimean war. She tried to create such
environment by which fast recovery could take place among the patients. Holding the ancient
perspective, too, one can note that ancient Roman physician Galen maintained the belief that
healing could be provided with the help of a better environment. According to him, hygienic
environment can heal a person faster than any other measures. Providing an aesthetical
environment can heal the patients faster. It is due to this reason that the modern medical centers
are devising ways and means by which patients can be closer towards nature and not in the four
walls of the hospital/nursing home. Being in the 21st century, medical professionals are taking up
the model of Florence nightingale to promote healthy living and quick recovery. It encompasses a
patient centered approach which includes positive physical setting and a supportive organizational
culture and support for the patients. In order to promote healing environment in the medical
centers, variant healing measures are taken up such as yoga, meditation and so on, so that
patients are not only recuperated with the help of bio-medicines but also on the basis of other
natural healing methods. These various healing environment promotes healthy living standard by
which the sole objective of the organizations i.e. speedy recovery of the people are met.

Healing benefits in the environment: Scientific investigations have proved the fact that healing
benefits are promoted in the environment in numerous ways and means. The first and foremost of
being healing is by being close to the natural environment. A patient can be close to nature if
he/she can view nature from his/her window. A research by Ulrich (1984) promoted the fact that
those patients who went through gall bladder surgery and were given a room close to nature,
required less amount of painkillers than those patients who were not provided with a room close to
nature.
Studies have also promoted that viewing aquariums reduced the stress level of the people,
especially among the elderly. Gardens also promote natural healing among the patients. It is for
this reason that various medical centers in the 21st century are building their medical structures
with an inclusive garden so that patients can recuperate fast. Indoor plants also promote healing
among the patients. Visitors many a times carry flowers and other indoor plants while visiting any
patients as these promotes quick healing among the patients. Thus, healing benefits are already
installed in the nature gifted to human beings by Mother Earth. Natural elements like daylight, fresh
air, quietness, also promote fast healing among the people.

Optical Healing Environment: An optical healing environment can be created once the following
components are present around the individual who is suffering from any pathology—
• healing intention,
• personal wholeness,
• healing relationships,
• healing organizations,
• healthy lifestyles,
• integrative
• health care,
• healing spaces and
• ecological sustainability (Cited, Samueli Institute, 2013)

The following chart (Samueli Institute, 2013) can explain the concept of optical healing
environment in a simplified manner—
Optical Healing Environment can be promotes when the people themselves starts to realize that it
is not always bio-medicine which can keep the anatomy of the human body healthy, but the natural
environment too which possess the ability to heal the people out of their pathology.

Color in the environment and healing: Color sensitivity also promotes positive and negative
influences in the human body. In the words of Florence Nightingale—
Little as we know about the way in which [we are] affected
by form, by color, and by light, we do know this—
that they all have an actual physical effect . . . People say
the effect is only on the mind. It is no such thing. The effect
is on the body, too . . . Variety of form and brilliancy
of color in the objects presented to patients are actual
means of recovery. (Nightingale, 1970, pp. 33-34)

The energy of light and colour together creates both psychological as well as physiological
responses in the human body. Color stimulates the emotional response system of a human body.
It either aggravates or alleviates stress. Color induces cheerfulness, agitation, calmness. Science
assigns each other with specific energies. Colors promotes electromagnetic energy that can
stimulate natural healing. The following table shows human response to various colrs and its
associated energies—
Therefore, color promotes healing among the human beings. Various researches are going on this
matter which promotes the fact that colorful environment affects the healing system of an
individual.

Musical environment and healing: Music is related with the therapeutic wellbeing of the people.
Self selected music or classical or instrumental music promotes healing through music among the
patients. Studies promote the fact that music has healing potential which can heal the members
from within. It reduces the anxiety level of the people. Studies by Cooke, Chaboyer, Schluter &
Hiratos (2005), portrayed that music interventions calmed the patients before going to any surgery.
It decrease postoperative pain (Good, Anderson, Ahn, Cong & Stanton-Hicks, 2005) and
decreases pain during surgical procedures (Dubois, Bartter & Pratter, 1995). Classical music has
shows to reduce the emotional anxieties of the people in comparison to heavy metal music. Thus,
music heals people from within. There have been many occasions where the waiting rooms are
also incorporated with music because studies speak that music acts as a stress buster among the
people.

Conclusion: Therefore, it can be summed up by saying that environment indeed promotes healing
of an individual. Different religious centers, too, promotes quietness and increases the
concentration level of the people thereby creating an effective external environment which can heal
the followers from within. If the environment of an individual is disturbed in some way or the other
then the anatomy of the human body suffers from its effect. Bio-medicine can cure the people but it
is the process of natural healing which can revive the person both mentally as well as physically.
Numerous medical centers are taking up the policy to implement a healthy and natural
environment in the hospital structure so that natural healing of the people can be promoted. Thus,
the relation between environment and healing are inter-related and are complementary to each
other. It can be summed up by saying that a healthy environment promotes a healthy lifestyle.

References:
Babin, B.J., Hardesty, D.M., & Suter, T.A. (2003). Color and shopping intentions: The intervening
effect of price fairness and perceived affect. Journal of Business Research, 56, 541-551.

Bellizzi, J.A., Crowley, A.E., & Hasty, R.W. (1983). The Effects of Color in Store Design. Journal of
Retailing, 59, 21-45.

Cooke, M., Chaboyer, W., Schluter, P., & Hiratos, M., (2005). The effect of music on preoperative
anxiety in day surgery. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 52, 47-55.

Dijkstra, D., Understanding Healing Environments: Effects of physical Environmental Stimuli on

patient’s Health and Well Being, Thesis, University of Twente, 2009.

Dubois, J.M., Bartter, T., & Pratter, M.R. (1995). Music improves patient comfort level during
outpatient bronchoscopy. Chest, 108, 129-130.

Good, M., Anderson, G.C., Ahn, S., Cong, X., & Stanton-Hicks, M. (2005). Relaxation and music
reduce pain following intestinal surgery. Research in Nursing & Health, 28, 240-251.

Kotler, P. (1973). Atmospherics as a marketing tool. Journal of Retailing, 49, 48-64.

Nightingale, F. (1970). Notes on nursing. United Kingdom: Brandon/ Systems Press.

Samueli Institute, Exploring the Science of Healing, 2013.