Does Cleaning Help Anxiety?
Have you ever wondered why a messy room full of things makes you feel uncomfortable and uneasy? Or why you appear to be overwhelmed when you see mountains of clothes lying on your bed? Or the fact that you feel edgy just by looking at that big pile of folders on your desk? You may be feeling that way because of the clutter.
Clutter pertains to the untidy and disorganized collection of things lying about in one place. Research shows that a cluttered home or workspace contributes to anxiety, stress, and poor concentration. Clutter impedes your mental ability to focus, makes you feel anxious and out of control, ensues helplessness and frustration, and eventually leads to anxiety.
Anxiety is your body’s natural response to stress. When your house is constantly messy with too much clutter, you find it hard to relax and you feel stressed. Fortunately, you can reduce the anxiety with cleaning and decluttering.
Cleaning, by definition, means the action of making something clean, especially the inside of a house. You can manage and do light cleaning on your own or you may seek help and hire professional cleaners around your area. On the other hand, decluttering means to organize and remove the mess, clutter, or excess things that you no longer need.
Both cleaning and decluttering can help you achieve a safer and cleaner environment. You save a lot of time finding things from a big mess. You can prevent accidents or injuries around the house when the toys are returned to their proper places. You can stop yourself from worrying and feeling anxious when you have sudden visitors come to your place. When your place is organized and tidy, you feel good and calm.
How Cleaning Helps With Anxiety
Cleaning relieves your stress.
A disorganized and messy home can cause you anxiety. When there is too much clutter around the house, this can leave you feeling lost and out of control. The clutter can add to your daily stress, which then builds up over time creating an overwhelming sense of distress that is draining up your energy.
Cleaning provides relief from clutter. KonMari™ advocates the idea of clearing away the excess things so you can live the life you want. This method encourages you to lead a more fulfilling and stress-free life by decluttering your belongings and leaving only the essential ones that spark joy.
Cleaning creates a healthier home.
Studies found that people living in clean houses are healthier than those living in messy houses. Cleaning reduces the spread of germs, dust, molds, and other allergens that can have unfavorable effects on your health. When you are sick, you feel tired and low on energy. This, in turn, makes you unhappy and anxious. Sanitizing and disinfecting your house regularly can fight off infections and illness.
Cleaning clears your mind.
Clear space clears the mind and this saying holds true. In 2011, a study conducted at Princeton Neuroscience Institute found that clutter signifies a visual distraction to the brain, making it difficult to concentrate on a particular task. When an environment is clutter-free, the mind can work better, can stay more focused, and can analyze information more quickly.
Like meditation, cleaning can boost your mental health. When you allow yourself to be completely immersed in the cleaning zone, you are able to force all other negative thoughts out. You drive away your worries and anxiety by keeping yourself busy. This physical activity can serve as a healthy way to destress yourself. The result is just as beneficial. Seeing your environment clean promotes calmness and can make you feel happy and satisfied.
Cleaning benefits your body.
Cleaning keeps you active. Physical activities such as mopping the floor, dusting the furniture, cleaning the dishes, washing the laundry, and arranging the shelves are helping you burn a lot of calories just like in a workout session. Moving around causes your body to release out the excess energy and improve blood circulation. After this cleaning exercise, you will feel your stress ebbing away and your mind is at ease.
Cleaning increases your productivity.
The visual distraction of clutter greatly affects how the brain works. The clutter seems to signal the brain that the work can never be done. The brain likes order and anything that disrupts that can make you feel overwhelmed and anxious.
Based on studies, having a clean space can boost your ability to focus and have greater work concentration. This leads to getting things done fast and less time wasted, thus increasing productivity. A tidy environment frees the mind from the chaos and distractions that are brought about by the clutters. Cleaning out the clutter and mess can bring in a positive effect on your life and your daily activities.
Cleaning promotes healthy eating.
A journal of Association for Psychological Science in 2013 showed that a clean setting leads people to do good things, influencing healthy choices. Stress often causes people to overeat and the increase in appetite may be triggered by the stress hormone cortisol. This was supported in a research study from Cornell Food and Brand Lab in 2016 that a messy environment can make you eat more. The study pointed out that having an organized kitchen can not only reduce stress but can also promote healthy eating.
Cleaning gives you better sleep.
An untidy and unkempt house can bring you stress and anxiety. This negative feeling can disrupt your peace of mind, comprising a good night’s sleep. But a clutter-free home can help change all that. As simple as making the habit of tidying your bed each morning can have a calming effect on your mind. A clean and fresh bed can give you better sleep and you can start your day on a positive note. You feel physically relaxed and comfortable in such a bed that you wake up with a fresh and renewed mind.
Conclusion
Having a clean environment can certainly help with anxiety. Cleaning has profound and positive effects on our mental health by helping us gain a sense of order and control of our surroundings. The cleaning activity itself can help improve our mood, calm our mind, reduce our stress, and provide an appreciable feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment.
Here Are Some Decluttering Ideas For You
Start decluttering and finish it one area at a time before moving on to the next one.
Sort through your belongings and create designated spaces for frequently used items.
Discard, recycle, or donate the items you don’t use, don’t want, and don’t need.
Keep only the essentials and the items that make you happy.
Promptly return the items to their storage space after use.
Don’t let the papers (documents, newspapers, mails, memos, menus, flyers) pile up.
Make a habit to declutter your work spaces before you leave it.
Put on some of your favorite tunes while you’re on it and have fun!