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owlsnestrecovery.com
article
https://www.owlsnestrecovery.com/blog/how-can-cleaning-be-used-as-therapy
When you feel anxious or struggling with anxiety, it can be a good practice to start cleaning or organizing.
One study finds that repetitive and predictable actions– in this instance, cleaning– can help you cope with temporary anxiety. Moreover, the order in a house or environment makes people feel safe.
mental health and cleanliness
Source: Pexels.com
### It gives you a sense of control [...] Like meditation, exercise is a great way to manage depression and anxiety. It releases happy chemicals in your brain, elevating your mood and decreasing stress.
Well, cleaning is a physical activity. Aside from the mental benefits, you’ll, of course, get the physical benefits, as well.
Sweeping the whole floor, going from room to room, running up the stairs, and wiping the kitchen counter can burn calories.
## Heal Your Home and Heal Yourself [...] You can also incorporate mindfulness into your cleaning. Meditating alone is an excellent technique for managing anxiety and depression. If you do it while cleaning, you’re hitting multiple birds with one stone. You’ll feel more relaxed after you’ve finished.
### It provides instant gratification
Besides meditating, you can use cleaning as an exercise of gratitude, particularly for each thing you touch.
V
verywellmind.com
article
https://www.verywellmind.com/how-mental-health-and-cleaning-are-connected-509…
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 and improve concentration.
### Cleanliness and Focus [...] 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. [...] If you've ever felt stressed, frustrated, or overwhelmed by a messy house, you likely understand the link between cleanliness and mental health. Cleaning up and decluttering can feel satisfying and even therapeutic.
When some people feel overwhelmed or 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 a mindfulness app.
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pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
official
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11925691
Visually simulated experience of cleaning behavior reduced residual anxiety from a stress-inducing physical scene. The manipulation involved mere visual simulation, with effect sizes (_d_ s = 0.205 and 0.141) in the expected small range by traditional standards (J. Cohen, 1988) and comparable with those in contemporary preregistered between-subjects research (Schäfer & Schwarz, 2019). The effect was observed and replicated on a pictorial measure of anxiety derived from basic emotional [...] ## found that (a) concrete visual simulation of cleaning behavior alleviated residual anxiety from a stress-inducing physical scene, an effect distinct from touch, and (b) actual cleaning behavior enhanced adaptive cardiovascular reactivity to a highly stressful context of social performance/evaluation, which provides the first physiological evidence for the attenuation of stress-related effects by cleaning. Overall, actual cleaning and simulated cleaning attenuate effects of physical or [...] As part of the behavioral immune system (Schaller, 2015), cleaning behavior serves adaptive biological functions by separating physical threats (e.g., infectious pathogens) from the body. It reduces threat-related anxiety, especially when the threat is highly salient, as in times of a global pandemic (e.g., COVID-19; Trougakos et al., 2020). Beyond biological functions, however, an emerging perspective suggests that cleaning behavior involves physical acts of separation that serve higher-order
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taylorcounselinggroup.com
article
https://taylorcounselinggroup.com/blog/mental-health-and-cleaning
Cleaning up may help mitigate a wide range of health concerns, including heart disease, high blood pressure, anxiety, depression and sleep
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oxfordcbt.co.uk
article
https://www.oxfordcbt.co.uk/stress-management-cleaning
Clutter and mess can be linked to negative emotions like confusion and tension. Whereas a clean and tidy home leads to positive emotions such as a sense of calm and well-being. By sorting and organising the clutter and mess around you, you can reduce any stress or anxiety you may be feeling and this will help you feel like you are taking control of your life. The physical activity of cleaning combined with the result of a cleaner home helps reduce stress, feelings of anxiety, and depressive [...] Whether you think of cleaning as a meditative task, or an energetic throw yourself into it task. Either way, any form of exercise releases endorphins. Endorphins send messages to your brain that changes your perception of pain and will trigger positive emotions in your body. Regular exercise has been proven to reduce stress and reduce anxiety, along with preventing depression. Cleaning will also have these effects on your body and mental health as long as these chores require some physical [...] Can cleaning help you reduce stress? There are lots of different ways that we can manage our stress. We each have our routine that we reach for when we feel overwhelmed. Some may try yoga, or mindfulness exercises, maybe even head to the hairdressers or for a massage. For others, dusting shelves, wiping down the kitchen or organising is their way to deal with stress. Cleaning is just as beneficial for our mental health as mindfulness related activities. For some people, coming home to a clean
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youtube.com
video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVlbS04uQAc
how intense they it was and and the motivation behind it however like often some components of cognitive behavioral therapy are really helpful we can help people try to challenge beliefs they have about whether or not they need an object help people identify ways to start slow practice tolerating the anxiety that comes from throwing something away so we really need to start slow because again it can be very distressing and it needs to come from the person they need to have the motivation and be [...] and a lot of people find clutter distracting certainly what are some of the health benefits obviously on the mental side as well but also on the physical side of just that kind of act of cleaning and decluttering what are those benefits so a lot of people do find cleaning to be um very satisfying but also like to be a very good way of managing stress or anxiety so a lot of people when they are faced with other problems that maybe they can't address at the time or they're just kind of [...] Feeling anxious, stressed or unable to focus? Take a look around you. Clutter, mess or an untidy work area can make some people feel overwhelmed. In fact, research shows that cleaning (or a lack of cleaning) can have an impact on your mental health. Clinical psychologist, Dawn Potter, PsyD, discusses tips for decluttering, how mess can contribute to depression and tension and hoarding disorder.
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C
columbiadoctors.org
news
https://www.columbiadoctors.org/news/reduce-stress-through-decluttering
“When our living environment becomes unmanageable for a period of time, it can be a symptom of depression or anxiety,” says Michael Carollo, PsyD, a clinical psychologist at Columbia University.
We asked Dr. Carollo to explain how clutter can impact mental health—and how activities like spring cleaning can help.
## How does clutter affect our mental health?
Some research has suggested that extensive clutter can have a negative impact on well-being. [...] Whether someone is dealing with depression or is simply overwhelmed, we often use a technique called behavioral activation, which involves purposefully engaging in achievable activities to improve mood. This approach has been borne out in research; one study even suggests that cleaning can help alleviate stress, even when the stressor has nothing to do with the clutter. Spring cleaning is a great example of behavioral activation. [...] When we evaluate someone’s mental health, we typically include appearance within an overall assessment of their ability to perform activities of daily living. If someone presents as noticeably disheveled or does not appear to be engaging in normal grooming, that could indicate the person may be struggling in many areas, including their home environment, driven by depression, anxiety, or some other mental health disorder.
## Where does spring cleaning fit into stress reduction?