Nicole Bijlsma joins me today to discuss the importance of establishing a healthy home and work environment. As one of Australia's leading Building Biologists Nicole has a wealth of knowledge on how our homes can help or hinder our health. This is an incredibly important topic that is often overlooked by patients and practitioners.

Selected Links from the Episode

Nicole Bijslma website

Australian College of Environmental Studies

Unstress episode with Nicole Bijlsma part 1

Unstress episode with Nicole Bijslma part 2

Download the PDF transcription

Dr Ron Ehrlich:             Hello and welcome to Unstress. I'm Dr Ron Ehrlich.

Now, to be honest, this is a first. I'm actually quoting from the Old Testament. Yes, the book of Isaiah, as it turns out, taking Unstress Podcast to new levels. Here it is, "Put your own house in order." It actually gets a little more dramatic in the next line, and here it is, "Again for you are dying and will not live."

Wow, now that is a heavy message, but the first part is the theme of today's show. No, there will be no more Bible readings. The point is, you could be on the best diet in the world, eating organic, biodynamic food, taking the most expensive supplements, exercising, meditating, all which are great, but if your house is not in order, quite literally the foundations on which you are trying to build, rebuild or maintain your health, well, then all of those efforts may not pay the dividends they should. Enter the world of Building Biology.

Now, Building Biology is about creating healthy, beautiful and sustainable buildings in ecologically sound, socially connected communities in the selection of materials and the design of living environments, ecological, economic, social and social aspects are also considered. Now, that may seem a little bit distant from your own home, but it's not. It's not. There are in fact 25 guiding principles, so there is a lot to consider and there are a lot of things that can affect your health in ways you might not even have considered or imagined.

Who better to talk about these issues in the home, that may be affecting your health than Australia's leading Building Biologist, Nicole Bijlsma?

Now, Nicole's been on the show before. She's actually doing her PhD on this very topic. We've talked to her before, but today I thought she should just remind us, or for those new to this idea, enlighten us on just some of the things to consider in putting your own home in order. I hope you enjoy this conversation I had with Nicole Bijlsma.

Download the PDF transcription

Welcome to the show, Nicole.

Nicole Bijlsma:             Hi, Ron. Good to be here again.

Dr Ron Ehrlich:             Yeah, always good to have you on. I love our conversations. I always learn so much.

Now listen, it occurs to me that people often are looking at their health, they go on diets, they eliminate food, they meditate, they exercise, they do everything and have blood tests. They're on medications and supplements, but some of them are just not getting better. And it occurs to me that the house in which they live is the problem. And, of course, that's very much what this conversation is about. How do we work out if our house is affecting us, who's susceptible?

Nicole Bijlsma:             Well, most people come to us as a building ... I'm a building biologist, and they come to us when they've gone everywhere else and they're not getting answers. I would argue your home and the built environment, whether it's the workplace or home, is probably contributing to most chronic illnesses. And that's a really big call. But in the last 20 years investigating this, it's really clear that we're exposed to many of our toxicants or manmade chemicals or allergens, electromagnetic fields, which have just escalated significantly and will continue to escalate. With the introduction of 5G enormously.

So most of the triggers of illnesses,