Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsNegative Impact of Clutter and MessBenefits of CleanlinessHow to Get StartedWhen to Be ConcernedNext in Clearing Out the Cobwebs GuideHow to Use Your Senses to Liven Up Your Home This Spring
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Negative Impact of Clutter and Mess
Benefits of Cleanliness
How to Get Started
When to Be Concerned
Next in Clearing Out the Cobwebs Guide
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If you’ve ever felt stressed out, frustrated, or just plain overwhelmed when your house is a mess, you probably recognize the connection between cleanliness and mental health. That’s why cleaning up and decluttering can sometimes feel so good—and even a bit therapeutic.
When some peoplefeel overwhelmedor stressed out, they might try yoga,mindfulness, or even a massage. For others, giving the shelves a quick dust, wiping down the kitchen, or even organizing the closet is just as beneficial for their mental health as using amindfulness app.
In fact, for some people, the simple sight of a clean and organized home can help them unwind and de-stress even after an overwhelming day.
At a GlanceEvidence suggests that having a messy, cluttered environment can create stress and interfere with your ability to concentrate, at least for some people. The actual act of cleaning and decluttering can boost your mood, help you move your body more, improve focus, and help you feel more in control of your surroundings. Here’s a closer look at the relationship between cleanliness and mental health, including the benefits of cleaning and how to incorporate a cleaning schedule into your life.
At a Glance
Evidence suggests that having a messy, cluttered environment can create stress and interfere with your ability to concentrate, at least for some people. The actual act of cleaning and decluttering can boost your mood, help you move your body more, improve focus, and help you feel more in control of your surroundings. Here’s a closer look at the relationship between cleanliness and mental health, including the benefits of cleaning and how to incorporate a cleaning schedule into your life.
Press Play for Advice On Decluttering
Keeping your home clean and engaging in the cleaning process is good for you. In fact, research shows that cleaning—or the lack of cleaning—can have a direct impact on mental health.
Clutter May Contribute to Stress
Research has shown that living in a cluttered environment increases stress. In the study, young women cared for an infant in either a normal or cluttered environment.While chaos didn’t seem to affect mood or responsiveness, physical stress levels were still higher for women in the cluttered homes. Such findings suggest that parents should consider how cleanliness and clutter in the home may impact their stress levels.
Other research suggests that lower housing quality, including how clean the home is, can have an impact on mental health.
Clutter May Lead to Decreased Focus, Confusion, and Tension
In some ways, clutter and mess are linked to negative emotions like confusion, tension, andirritability, while an organized home produces more positive emotions like calmness and a sense of well-being.
To the brain, clutter represents unfinished business and this lack of completeness can be highly stressful for some people. This fact is especially true when people have significant concerns pressing in on their lives.
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Benefits of Cleanliness and Decluttering
Research has found that cleaning can have a number of positive effects on your mental health. For instance, it helps you gain a sense of control over your environment and engage your mind in a repetitive activity that can have a calming effect.
It also has been found to improve a person’s mood as well as provide a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. There are a number of reasons why cleaning canhelp you destress. Here’s an overview of some of the benefits of cleaning and decluttering your home or office.
Cleanliness and Physical Health
In fact, cleanliness was even more a predictor of good health than the walkability of a neighborhood.
Gain Control of Your Environment
When people feel like their life is out of control or they are struggling with some uncertainties, cleaning can be a way to assert some control in their life. Cleaning gives people a sense of mastery and control over their environment.
What’s more, clutter and disorganization can be really distracting, making it hard to focus or complete other projects. You can start to feelstuck in a rut.
So, if you’re feeling the urge to clean and declutter when you’re stressed, your mind and body are probably looking for a way to bring some order to your environment.
Cleanliness and Mood
Aside from the benefits of having a cleaner home, the relationship between a clean house and mental health can help youreduce your anxiety.
For instance, a study published in the journal,Mindfulness, found that people who were mindful when washing dishes—in other words they took the time to smell the soap and to take in the experience—reported a 27% reduction in nervousness, along with a 25% improvement in “mental inspiration.“
Moreover, having clean sheets and making your bed may also help you get a better night’s rest.When you get more rest, that provides a whole host ofmental health benefitsincluding an improved mood.
Additionally, the Anxiety and Depression Association of America indicates that the physical activity of cleaning coupled with the end result of a cleaner home helps reduce stress,feelings of anxiety, and depressive symptoms.Cleaning can also reduce fatigue andimprove concentration.
Cleanliness and Focus
When your home is cluttered, messy, or exceptionally dirty, the chaos that the mess creates can impact your ability to focus. The clutter also limits your brain’s ability to process information. Visual attention and performance on visual tasks is better in situations where there is less distracting clutter.
If you’re having trouble focusing on a project, you may want to try decluttering your workspace first. Devoting just a few minutes to organizing your things and clearing away any mess may make it easier for you to concentrate and complete your work.
Limiting the number of possessions you own can have the same impact because it reduces the number of things vying for your brain’s attention.
How to Incorporate Cleanliness and Decluttering Into Your Life
But, knowing that having a cleaner environment will help improve your mood and make your life more peaceful might be worth pursuing. Here are some ideas on how to incorporate cleaning into your life.
Start Small
Most people put off cleaning because the task seems way too big to tackle. But instead of expecting to get the entire house into order in one weekend, start small and do just a little bit each day.
Commit to doing one thing around your house or apartment each day. Before you know it, your environment will be much cleaner and less stressful.
For instance, pick one thing you want to do each day and then follow through. One day you might go through all of your mail. The next day you might clean the toilet and wash the bathroom sink. The next day, you might clean off the kitchen counter, and the next day, you might pick up all the clothes scattered around the house and put them in a laundry basket.
The key is that you don’t make your to-do list bigger than what you can mentally handle or you will just increase your stress rather than reduce it. To enjoy the benefits of cleanliness and decluttering, start with what you can realistically manage.
Set a Timer
Another option for getting a cleaning routine started is to set a timer and see how much cleaning you can get done in that time period. Or, you can use thetime blocking methodfor scheduling to manage your cleanliness and decluttering routine.
If you would prefer, you could start in a bedroom, instead of the living area. This way, your cleaning will help you create a more peaceful environment that will help you sleep better that night.
Involve Others
Sometimes you are at a point in your life where a cleanliness and decluttering routine is just not something you can handle on your own. Maybe you’re recovering from a major illness, running your own business, raising a house full of kids, or trying to work and go to school—whatever your situation, if you know you cannot possibly accomplish everything that needs to be done without help, then you should consider involving others.
Ask Friends and Family For Help
Although asking for help may be hard, most people are willing to help you if you ask. So, talk to your partner, enlist your kids, or ask a friend or family member if they will help you get organized. Plus, it’s a lot easier to tackle big projects when you have the help of others.
Get Outside Help
If you have room in your budget, you could also consider hiring someone to clean your house once or twice a month. To keep costs down, consider having them do the hard tasks like cleaning the bathrooms only and then cleaning the other areas of your home on your own.
You could also consider getting a robot vacuum so that you don’t have to worry about the floors. Look for ways to simplify the cleaning that needs to be done, and it will become more manageable over time.
When to Be Concerned About Cleanliness and Decluttering
There is nothing wrong with being neat and looking to cleaning as a way to calm your nerves and destress. However, it becomes an issue when your cleanliness and need for order in your home starts to become a compulsion.
For instance, if you won’t go out with your friends or cancel plans because you haven’t finished all your cleaning tasks for the day or week, then that could be a red flag that your cleanliness and decluttering habit has become a compulsion.
Likewise, cleaning can become an issue if it’s impacting your physical health, feels a little obsessive, or is interfering with your schedule, like making you late for work or school.
If you are unsure whether or not your cleaning habits are constructive or bordering on a compulsion, you may want to talk to your doctor or a mental health professional for advice. A therapist can help you determine which behaviors are healthy and which might need to be altered. They can also provide other coping mechanisms for depression, anxiety, or stress.
OCD Subtypes: Types of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
On the other hand, if you are struggling to maintain order or do basic, everyday cleaning tasks, it may also be a cause for concern.Depressioncan make it very difficult to find the energy and motivation to clean and maintain an orderly home.
When you are struggling with symptoms of depression, dishes may pile up in the sink, the trash might not get taken out, and the laundry might not get washed. And once you start to fall behind on these tasks, you start to feel even more demotivated and overwhelmed.
If you are struggling with such everyday activities and are experiencing othersymptoms of depression—like feelings of sadness, lack of energy, irritability, and changes in your sleep and appetite—talk to your doctor or a licensed mental health professional.
Takeaways
Sometimes things won’t go as planned, and you won’t be able to clean. So, you need other tools in your arsenal to use to destress and unwind.
Conversely, if you are struggling with depression or another mental health issue and long for a clean and organized home but don’t have the energy to do it, try starting small. Even if that means just picking up all the clothes off the floor on one day and loading the dishwasher on the next day, taking little steps to clean up your environment will feel more manageable and less overwhelming.
More importantly, taking a small step toward organizing and cleaning your environment may even lift your mood.
7 Tips for Staying Motivated to Clean Your House When You Are Depressed
10 Sources
Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
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