Does Decluttering Help with Anxiety?

When your home is messy and various items are scattered all over, it’snormal for you to feel irritated and overwhelmed, which often leads to anxiety. Therefore, decluttering your home is an excellent method of relieving feelings of anxiety and stress.

 

The human mind prefers order and symmetry. That is why decluttering makes you feel calmer, think more clearly, and feel at peace with your surroundings.

 

If you have recently been feeling anxious and think it’s got something to do with how messy or disorganized your home is, here is everything you need to know about the impacts of decluttering on anxiety.

 

 

 

Is Decluttering Good for Mental Health?

 

Research shows that the environment can either positively or negatively impact your mental health. If your physical space, such as your home or office, is messy, there is a good chance that your brain will also feel that way.

 

Decluttering doesn’t just lower your anxiety. It also keeps your stress levels low. The act of decluttering or cleaning up can significantly improve your mood. Even if you only declutter a certain part of your home, the little progress will give you a sense of accomplishment.

 

Considering how chaotic clutter often is, it will be easier for you to focus on different tasks when you declutter your home. Also, your productivity levels will be much higher.

 

The more you declutter, the more energetic you will feel toward completing other tasks, such as work or house chores. Through decluttering, you will improve your decision-making skills. It teaches you to make quick decisions on items you should keep or dispose of.

 

Apart from making your home tidier, decluttering can benefit your mental health in numerous ways. It’s a practice that you should consider adding to your routine.

 

 

 

Can a Cluttered House Cause Anxiety?

 

A pile of clothes dumped on your bed or papers scattered all over the living room may seem harmless. However, as more clutter piles up in your home, that can trigger your fight or flight response, commonly known as anxiety.

 

A cluttered house can cause anxiety in the following ways;

 

• Clutter overloads the brain with excessive stimuli. This causes the mind to wander and work overtime on stimuli that isn’t even necessary. If you don’t declutter soon enough, this may lead to panic attacks. • It also draws your attention from what you should be focusing on. This makes it hard for you to feel calm or think clearly. • Every time you spot some clutter, it will be impossible to relax.

  • As you struggle to search for items in piles of clutter, that can make you irritable, frustrated, and anxious.

  • Because clutter is embarrassing, you will always be anxious about having guests around.

 

From the above, it’s evident that clutter can be a major source of anxiety. That’s why you should plan how to declutter your home if you want to live an anxious-free life.

 

 

 

Does Cleaning Your Room Help with Anxiety?

 

Cleaning your room relieves anxiety in two main ways. One, the process of decluttering is a mood booster. Some psychologists refer to it as a positive distraction.

 

Cleaning takes your mind off stress or issues that may be bothering you. Cleaning your room is even more beneficial for anxiety when you conduct it mindfully.

 

 

Secondly, once you are done cleaning, your mind appreciates a clean environment more. A tidy home is associated with positive feelings such as calmness, happiness, relaxation, and well-being.

 

Clutter can make it impossible for you to relax in your own home. The good news is that decluttering allows you to find calm within the chaos.

 

 

When managing your anxiety through cleaning or decluttering, don’t hesitate to start small and take your time. You don’t have to clean the entire house in a day. Putting too much pressure on yourself can worsen anxiety.

 

Clean one room at a time, and don’t be afraid to ask for help from friends or family. That will make your work much easier.

 

 

 

How Does Clutter Affect Anxiety?

 

The thing about clutter is that it activates the stress hormone cortisol in the brain. And as we all know, stress is closely linked to anxiety. Too much exposure to clutter leads to high-stress levels, and you will notice an increase in feelings of anxiety.

 

Clutter is frustrating to look at and even deal with. That’s why you may experience a sudden feeling of anxiety whenever you get home. It’s also irritating when you start searching for a pair of keys or a missing sock within the pile of clutter.

 

Amongst people diagnosed with anxiety, clutter often appears as a never-ending problem. They assume it would take a lot of time and effort to declutter, which isn’t usually true.

 

Clutter affects anxiety in numerous ways, and most of the impact is often negative.

 

 

 

What Does Clutter Do to Your Brain?

 

So far, it’s clear that clutter can trigger anxiety. But is that the only negative impact it can have on the brain?

 

Here are some of the effects of clutter on the brain;

 

• Visual clutter triggers the stress hormone cortisol. Constant exposure to unending clutter can affect your mood and increase stress levels. • Clutter also pulls your brain in many directions simultaneously. Should you dispose of some of this mail? Or is there an important document in this heap of papers that I may regret throwing away? These and many other questions can make it hard for your brain to process information. • If it piles up for too long, clutter can trigger negative psychological emotions such as embarrassment, fear, and anxiety.

  • Clutter also affects a person’s judgment. When you are enclosed in a cluttered room, your brain tends to make the wrong decisions. That’s because the physical chaos is affecting your mental clarity.

  • People who live in cluttered homes are more impulsive in some situations. If your home is a mess, there is a good chance that you will have a lower sense of control.

 

Final Thoughts

 

Clutter can affect your brain in more ways than you can imagine. Most of the effects of clutter on our mental health are often negative. For instance, it can trigger anxiety and increase stress levels.

 

If your home is a mess, make time to declutter. Start small and tackle one room after another. Remember that you don’t always have to declutter by yourself. You can always ask for help from friends, family, or a professional cleaning company.