How clutter can affect your mind and body?

Did you know your cluttered home can affect your health?

Loads of papers cover your desk, piles of clothes in your bedrooms, toys are scattered across the living room floor. Can you imagine how messy and untidy that will be?

The decluttering trend led by Japanese tidying consultant and decluttering expert Marie Kondo helps people to bring order to their homes and, finally, to their lives and mental health. Anyway, there are some good reasons to get on board, whether it is inspired by the KonMarie method or just to have a clear-out.

Kondo encourages everyone to tidy the house in categories — first clothes, then books, miscellaneous things, and last, sentimental items. Her famous KonMarie method advises that we need to examine each item individually, holding it in our hands, and determine whether the item should be kept or not. If not thank it for serving the purpose and either let it go or donate it.

For some people, a messy home is minor trouble or something they can easily handle. For others, it can have a substantial impact on their mental health. Clutter can cause serious mental issues like stress, depression, anxiety and it may affect our sleep and ability to focus. It can also make us less productive. According to the researches in organizational behavior shows that our physical environments significantly influence our thought, emotions, and subsequent behaviors, including our relationships with others.

Studies from UCLA researchers showed that women who had a larger amount of clutter in their homes had higher levels of a stress hormone known as high cortisol. It is also found that the tidier a home is, the happier its residents seemed to be. When you live in a cluttered home, there will be a feeling that “My home is not clean and untidy all the time”. Because we are always unconsciously thinking about this and our brain is reminding us there is still plenty of work to be done. This makes us restless and harder to relax.

Even if we want to declutter the house, many people are overwhelmed by their clutter and they don’t know where to begin and what to be done.

What is clutter?

Clutter is not just physical stuff. It’s old ideas, toxic relationships, and bad habits. Clutter is anything that does not support your better self. — ELEANOR BROWNN, Self-Care Coach

By definition, clutter is a lot of things in an untidy state, especially things that are not useful or necessary. In reality, it can also result in emotional and mental glitches. We often think of clutter as physical stuff, but mental clutter is also very important as it holds as much space as physical clutter.

Why is it difficult to declutter?

Our society teaches us that when we have more things we will be more happy or proud. Emotional attachment to some items, fear of losing memorable items, all restrict us to get rid of unused things. Throwing things away can often be painful and can be a sign of forgetting the past. That is why we often hang onto things hoping that they will become useful one day when in fact they usually increase our mental and emotional stress.

How it affects your mind?

Clutter can make it difficult to live properly and think properly. When you could not find something that you need urgently and spend time trying to find it will definitely result in a negative impact on you. We may become more hysterical and stressed, completely lose energy to do something. Then it is hard to focus on important things and according to some researchers, disorganization makes it tougher for your brain to focus.

How it affects your health?

Clutter can even impact your eating habits. According to an Australian study, people especially women tend to eat more snacks when they live in a messy and untidy environment. Moreover, this increases the risk of physical injury. It can also cause accidents and it’s easy for you to injure yourself by falling over the clutter.

Removing Clutter from Your Life

We may spend hours, days, or even weeks to manage the clutter but fail to do it. In reality, it is not about the clutter but rather it is about why is it there? By decluttering and organizing your space in a proper way, you will be able to save time for yourself and for your loved ones. There you are making your home more beautiful, spacious, tidier, and easy to manage. It is the best way to refresh your house.

These are some creative ways to declutter your house easily. Read the blog “How to declutter your home?”.

Conclusion

Many of us enjoy shopping and believe that this will bring happiness. Instead of buying for ourselves, sometimes it is good to buy for others. And donate unused items that are in good condition to the needy ones. Clutter can be harmful to mental and physical health, and it is often a sign of some serious issues that need to be healed. If it is a tough task for you, seek a professional cleaning service to help and decluttering your home to improve your quality of life.