Most people spend about 90% of their time in closed spaces, in their own home and in workplaces and places for study and leisure. This is why the interior conditions of buildings are determinant for health, for example the temperature, the humidity, the noise, the quality of indoor air, and the building materials. The team of the Laboratory of Health in Building (Laboratório de Saúde na Edificação, LABSED) of the Universidade da Beira Interior in Portugal is researching all these aspects to achieve a healthier atmosphere.

In common with other professions involving the care and treatment of human beings, nursing produces high levels of occupational stress, which at times reaches the clinical stage known as the Burnout Syndrome. This pathology is characterised by an inner state of saturation in which sufferers feel physically, emotionally, and mentally exhausted. This results in a lack of energy and therefore a reduction in work capacity, a lack of motivation, mood swings, and physical symptoms such as locomotor problems (for instance muscular pains and aching joints) and other psychosomatic alterations (gastrointestinal problems, headaches, dizziness, etc.).

Can we hear colours or see sounds? Most of us can't, but synesthetes have this ability together with other capacities. It is estimated that the number of different types of synesthesia is very high, or what amounts to the same thing, some people can experience sensations in a certain sense when another is stimulated. Noted creators such as the painter Wassily Kandinsky and the composer Alexander Scriabin have perceived this crossover of senses (in their case chromesthesia or the association of sounds with colours). But can a person who is not a synesthete experience synesthesia?

The NetGNA (Next Generation Networks and Applications Group) research team of the Universidade da Beira Interior is working to develop technologies that can be applied to the field of the health and in particular the care of the elderly. Technological developments such as body sensors and mobile signals can improve the quality of life of the elderly and help them to be more independent.