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Saskia Wheeler, MA, MSc is a neuroaesthetics and wellbeing consultant exploring how the sensory environment shapes belonging, emotional health, and human experience. A writer, speaker, and podcaster, she currently serves as a Cognitive Health Consultant at Kyan Health (Berlin), an AI-powered wellbeing platform. As a science communicator and researcher, she collaborates with creative teams and uses tools like EEG and physiological biometric measures, to translate neuroscience into human-centred design for brands, products, and spaces. Her path runs from philosophy (mind, perception, aesthetics) to neuroscience and neuroaesthetics, and her work sits where research meets real-world environments. 

For readers who have never heard the term before, how would you explain neuroaesthetics? Neuroaesthetics studies how aesthetics – across design, art, music, architecture – measurably change the brain and body, and how the arts shape healing, health, and wellbeing. 

You studied philosophy before neuroscience, how did that shape your perspective? Philosophy of mind, neurophilosophy, and aesthetics made me look closely at perception: how we engage with the world and connect with people through our surroundings. Space isn’t just functional; it’s a bi-directional relationship between a perceiver and the environment. That lens really prepared me for neuroaesthetics and how embodiment shapes sensory design. 

What surprised you when you began studying the science of it? The field lets us measure what cultures have intuited for millennia: creative expression is good for us. For example, when we experience beauty, there’s activation in the medial orbitofrontal cortex. That nudges the “objective vs subjective beauty” question: there are  generalisable principles (symmetry, form), yet what each person finds beautiful remains personal and influenced by taste and culture. 

If beauty is subjective, how do you design environments that work for people? I tailor to purpose. A workspace needs different states than a place for rest. Taste varies, but some spatial drivers are broadly impactful: light exposure, ceiling height, noise levels. These influence physiology, neurochemistry, and felt states like calm, anxiety, connection, or inspiration. 

Do you catch yourself assessing spaces—and can you share a great example? I notice it instantly, especially in workplaces where design either opens people up or shuts them down. I love Second Home offices for biophilic design: plants, daylight, playful colour – calming yet visually stimulating for creativity. In Berlin, the cocreation.loft: high ceilings, openness—beautifully invites collaboration. 

 Do you advise on art selection? What kind of art supports cognition and mood? On smaller projects I do; on larger ones I collaborate with curators. I’m drawn to- intricate imagery such as fractals (self-repeating patterns) that travel far down the visual system and peak perceptual saliency. Viewing fractals is linked to an increase in alpha brainwave activity – helping to get into states of calm, focus, and creativity. My role is bringing a scientific lens to complement curatorial intuition. 

What are the emerging frontiers in neuroaesthetics, and where are you headed? It’s a broad, young field spanning design, neuroarchitecture and arts-and-health research (anxiety, mental health, neurodegenerative disease), in areas such as arts interventions for healing in healthcare and wellness, designing environments for embodied cognition that go beyond the visual to the fully sensorial. I’m very interested in healing spaces in hospitality, wellness and public spaces. I’m currently developing EEG-based studies on how built and sensory environments – sound, meditation settings – shape brain states. Specifically, how physiological measures can be applied to create spaces that heal and support human connection.  

What about digital and immersive art, can they help healing? Yes!

Immersive environments are hugely powerful for healing, mainly due to the full scale, sensory activation and physiological state change.

These environments have also been shown to reduce activity in the default mode network, similar to psychedelic states, which eases rumination and opens up more expansive thinking. It depends on the work, but the state shift they catalyze can be powerful. 

Final thoughts on why the arts matter for healing today? The arts predate reading and writing by tens of thousands of years. They’ve always been intrinsic to how humans connect and make meaning. In an age of digital saturation and divided attention, engaging with creativity – and designing for psychological safety, calm, and connection – isn’t a luxury. It’s essential. 

Recommendations from Saskia Wheeler 

Three simple ways to improve your environment

• Reduce noise pollution. Even low background noise raises stress and erodes focus.

• Declutter for cognitive ease. Clear, open spaces lower mental load and support clarity.

• Maximise daylight + biophilia. Daylight and nature-linked elements (plants, biomimicry) support calm, creativity, and a sense of safety.

Shifting your state when you feel stuck

• In five minutes: Move. Step outside, breathe fresh air, get sunlight if possible.

• In one hour: Create or journal. Empty your mind onto the page; it reorganises thinking.

• In a day: Go novel. Take a day trip, explore a new neighbourhood, visit exhibitions or live music. New inputs help the brain think differently.

The NEURO Principle
Developed by neurologists Dean and Ayesha Sherzai (known as “The Brain Docs”) 

N – Nutrition
Feed your brain with whole, nutrient-rich foods. Limit sugar and processed ingredients; prioritise foods that support gut health, as the gut–brain connection plays a major role in mood and cognition. 

E – Exercise
Move daily. Physical activity increases blood flow to the brain, boosts neurochemicals like dopamine and serotonin, and strengthens memory and focus. 

U – Unwind
Regulate stress. Practices like meditation, breathwork, yoga, or simply mindful walking calm the nervous system and help restore balance. 

R – Rest
Sleep is non-negotiable. Deep, restorative rest consolidates learning, supports emotional regulation, and protects long-term brain health. 

O – Optimise
Keep stretching your mind. Learn a language, pick up an instrument, engage in creative work—anything that challenges the brain builds neuroplasticity, resilience, and adaptability over time. 

Listen more: Saskia also explores these ideas in depth on the podcast Lost and Searching with Seven Jacobs, where she unpacks how modern environments shape creativity, nervous system regulation, and our ability to access expansive states of thinking. The conversation bridges neuroscience, lived experience, and practical insight—well worth a listen if you’re curious about how to design conditions that truly support creative and emotional wellbeing.