Are High-Stress Levels Correlated With A Cluttered Space Environment?
Did you know that clutter can make you sick? You may not be aware of it but the clutter in your home is hurting you.
In our fast-paced world where we accumulate more stuff than ever before, the cluttered homes that result have taken their toll on people's stress levels. It is not uncommon for many homeowners to be feeling stressed out from all of this unnecessary clutter around them!
As it turns out - there might be a direct connection between excess home furnishing and higher rates of mental illness or depression among family members who live at home with a huge amount of clutter.
The sheer volume and overload from all these extra things have become so overwhelming that we're feeling more stressed than ever before! Your cluttered home is indeed harming you!
Maybe you’ve never thought about it before, but the more stuff you have in your home - whether or not they are useful for everyday life-all this extra baggage can make you feel stressed out. And studies show a direct link between excess clutter at any given time and higher stress levels over long periods too.
The Science of Why Clutter Makes You Feel Stressed
The clutter in your home is seriously affecting you, it's pushing the limits of what can be accomplished at any one time. When there are too many distractions around you, your mental faculties wear down and frustration ensues which causes stress!
Not only does this make focusing hard but also creative thought processes like problem-solving becomes impaired as well due to all these distractions getting into your heads. The effects are cumulative! Research shows organization leads to mental clarity while the lack thereof impairs performance in everyday tasks.
What Does Research Say?
The Yale School of Medicine published a study that produced some surprising outcomes. When the study’s participants who were less willing to throw away items were forced to part with belongings, researchers noticed heightened activity in the parts of their brains that are related to conflict and suffering. It hurts some people to part with things that they own.
UCLA researchers discovered that women with more clutter in their homes had higher levels of cortisol, a stress hormone. Their research also discovered that the cleaner a home was, the happier the residents appeared to be.
We all have moments when we feel like bursting into tears because of the stress or pressure that life throws at us. But what if it is not just these little things? What will happen to you when your house has been filled up with clutter and disorganization for months on end?
The Effects of Clutter on Your Health and Well-Being
A cluttered home environment might trigger a low-grade fight or flight response, putting our survival resources to the test. This response can cause physical and psychological changes that damage our ability to fight infections and digest food, as well as increase our risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
Clutter could also have an impact on our interpersonal interactions. Background clutter, for example, caused participants in a 2016 US study to be less able to correctly understand the emotional expressions on the faces of movie characters.
Surprisingly, it persists even after we retire to our beds. People who sleep in messy rooms are more likely to experience sleep issues, such as trouble falling asleep and being awakened throughout the night.
When people are surrounded by clutter, they create more stress hormones, according to research. Is it true that clutter causes us to gain weight?
Clutter has been linked to bad eating habits in numerous research. In one study, participants in disorganized and dirty kitchen conditions ate twice as many cookies as those in an organized kitchen environment.
According to other studies, being in a cluttered area makes you twice as likely to consume a chocolate bar rather than an apple. Overweight people are 77 percent more likely to have a cluttered home.
Clutter affects our mental health in many ways. It can make you feel more anxious, sleep less soundly and find it difficult to focus on the tasks at hand. This often leads people towards snacking or watching TV instead of doing productive things with their time
Tidying up one's home will help reduce these issues - not only does clutter create a stressful environment but it also has been shown that having too much stuff makes us less happy than if there were fewer items around!
Benefits of Decluttering
There are numerous advantages to having fewer items in your home. Taking action may initially be difficult – that is, until the numerous advantages of decluttering become apparent. The benefits of getting rid of clutter are numerous and diverse. So why not make the jump?
Fewer Items to Clean
There's less to clean. Cleaning is already a difficult task, but having to clean around items to which you have no emotional attachment (or, worse, actively despise) adds to the burden.
Fewer Items to Organize
You can finally relax because there are no more obstacles in your way. You'll be able to move freely around the house, instead of constantly being frustrated by things that are blocking or getting between you and the things that you need to do.
Navigate Around Your Home Easily
Finding stuff becomes a lot easier. Things no longer simply "vanish." Instead of navigating around things that are in the way, you can truly move around your home and appreciate the space.
Save More Money
Spending less time shopping for material stuff and adding to the clutter means your wallet and bank accounts stay fuller, your credit card balances stay lower, and your house stays free of expensive items you don't need.
Achieve Financial Freedom
According to a recent poll conducted by Charles Schwab in May 2019, the majority of American households live paycheck to paycheck (59 percent). Nearly half of those surveyed have credit card debt. When you combine decluttering with minimalism, you'll be able to save money to protect yourself in the event of an emergency.
Have More Time for Your Passion
You can now spend your efforts on the activities you like rather than worrying about "keeping up with the Joneses" since you have less debt, greater financial independence, and a tidy house.
How to Declutter Your Home
So, now that you're aware of the advantages of decluttering your life, you might be stumped by the following question: where do you begin?
We all know that decluttering can be a daunting task, but it doesn't have to feel like one. Here are several interesting tips on how you could get started with your home decorating and organizing efforts:
Get Rid Of Anything Unnecessary From Every Room
Not only this will help reduce the clutter, but this will give you more space too! Begin by doing 5 minutes at a time. If you're new to decluttering, even five minutes a day can help you get started.
Give Away One Item a Day
Every year, 365 objects would be removed from your home. If you upped this to two items every day, you would have given out 730 items. If it becomes too easy, increase this number. You will clear up your space in no time.
You can also try the 12-12-12 challenge and see how far you can get. Locate 12 objects to discard, 12 to donate, and 12 to return to their rightful owners.
Fill a Garbage Bag to the Brim
Get a garbage bag and fill it as quickly as possible with items that may be donated to Goodwill.
Get Rid of Unused Clothes
Clothes are a huge part of our lives and it's always sad when we have to get rid of them. But remember, if you're not going to wear something then why doodle up all the space in your closet?
Here is how you can identify clothes that don't fit or work for any reason - hang everything on hangers in the reverse direction. After wearing an item, hang them in the correct direction. Give away items that are left untouched.
Create a Decluttering Checklist
When you have an idea of where you need to start decluttering, it's a lot simpler. You would benefit from using a checklist of the things you need to declutter. You could go through this checklist and tick off items that you've completed as you go through them.
Ask for Help from a Friend or Relative
Have a friend or family member walk through your house and suggest a few large items to donate or toss away. If you wish to keep the item and protect it, your companion must agree with you. It's time to get rid of it if they don't agree.
Use the 4-Box Method
When you're overwhelmed by the clutter in your home, it can be difficult to identify what's worth keeping and how much trash should go into a landfill. Start with four containers: one for each type of item (trash, give away, keep, or re-locate)
Grab two additional boxes that are only used for larger items such as furniture or appliances - these don't need specific labels but just have "recycle" written on them so they know where their fate awaits! Label everything else carefully before placing it inside its respective container.
Make sure you don't miss anything, no matter how minor you think it is. This may take a few days, weeks, or months, but it will help you see how many objects you truly have and what to do with them.
Get Storage Boxes and Drawers to Help You Organize
One of the best things you can do to declutter your home and lower your stress levels is to get organized. And one of the best ways to do that is to invest in some storage boxes and drawers. With a place for everything, you'll be able to find what you need when you need it without having to search through a pile of stuff.
Storage boxes and drawers also help protect your belongings from dust and damage. So if you're looking for a way to declutter your home and reduce your stress levels, investing in some storage boxes and drawers is a great solution.