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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 [...] 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. [...] Clutter and mess can create more stress and anxiety, but by cleaning, organizing, and reducing the clutter, people are able to take control of their environment and create a more relaxing environment that helps them focus better on the more pressing issues in their lives.
## Benefits of Cleanliness and Decluttering
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pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
official
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11925691
basic emotional dimensions, not on a verbal measure of tension in particular. It suggests that the psychological effect of cleaning may be more observable with indirect measures than direct ones, a theme we will see again in Experiment 2 (using physiological measures) and revisit in the Discussion section. [...] . Reidinger, Beauchamp, Barth (1982). Conditioned aversion to a taste perceived while grooming. _Physiology & Behavior_, 28(4), 715–723. doi: 10.1016/0031-9384(82)90057-9 [DOI90057-9)] [PubMed] [Google Scholar90057-9&)]
. Reuven, Liberman, Dar (2014). The effect of physical cleaning on threatened morality in individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder. _Clinical Psychological Science_, 2(2), 224–229. doi: 10.1177/2167702613485565 [DOI] [Google Scholar] [...] which can operate independently (Mauss et al., 2005; Nisbett & Wilson, 1977). The dissociation here is compatible with prior evidence that verbal assessment using specific emotion terms involved distinct psychological effects (Kassam & Mendes, 2013). It also raises the question of whether or when psychological consequences of cleaning occur without people’s explicit awareness or conceptualization of them (Nisbett & Wilson, 1977); empirical tests await.
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oxfordcbt.co.uk
article
https://www.oxfordcbt.co.uk/stress-management-cleaning
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 [...] 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 [...] This one is particularly true if you share your living environment with other people. Whether you are sharing with a partner, friends, housemates, there is always a chance that you won’t all feel the same way about cleaning. Seeing someone’s dirty clothes around, unwashed plates or a messy bathroom can cause negative feelings of resentment towards the person responsible, and the negative feelings then in turn will have an impact on your mental health. You must discuss your shared responsibility
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elevaterecoveryhomes.com
article
https://elevaterecoveryhomes.com/cleaning-as-self-care
Several mental health issues make cleaning difficult:
Depression
Lack of energy and motivation
Everything feels pointless
Can’t get started on tasks
Overwhelmed by basic activities
Anxiety
Perfectionism makes starting hard
Fear of not doing it right
Overwhelmed by the amount
Paralyzed by choices
ADHD
Trouble focusing on tasks
Getting distracted mid-clean
Difficulty with organization
Hard to maintain routines
Hoarding Disorder [...] Your home reflects your mental state. When your space is cluttered, your mind feels the same way. Research shows that messy environments increase stress hormones, make it harder to focus, and contribute to anxiety and depression. But cleaning isn’t just about having a tidy house – it’s an act of self-care that directly impacts your emotional well-being. Understanding this connection can change how you think about household chores and give you a practical tool for managing your mental health. [...] When life feels uncertain, cleaning is a tangible action you can manage – it can restore a sense of agency when everything else feels chaotic.
## The Mental Health Benefits of Cleaning
### Reduces Stress and Anxiety
Cluttered spaces can contribute to feelings of overwhelm and anxiety—when your environment is disorganized, your mind tends to feel the same way, and by systematically cleaning and organizing, you can create a sense of order and control, reducing stress levels.
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highlandhosp.com
article
https://highlandhosp.com/how-clutter-impacts-health
Jun 14, 2022 — One study found that women who perceived their homes as cluttered had heightened levels of cortisol, a stress hormone associated with chronic ...Read more
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nec.org
article
https://www.nec.org/good-hygiene-and-mental-health
Feeling fresh and clean can lead to feeling more confident. When you feel confident, you are more likely to participate in social situations, decreasing isolation. Humans aren't meant to be alone; interacting with others can help improve your mental health as well!
1. Good hygiene reduces stress and anxiety. [...] A good personal hygiene routine can help alleviate stress and anxiety. Simple acts like a warm shower can put you into a calmer frame of mind. If you're up to it, you can even incorporate some simple breathing exercises into your shower routine for an extra boost of relaxation and calm!
1. Good hygiene improves sleep quality. [...] Did you know hygiene doesn't just mean showering and brushing your hair? You can have good hygiene with your sleep and nighttime routine, too! Good sleep hygiene, including changing into clean clothes before bed and brushing your teeth, can improve mental health by decreasing stress, irritability, and depression.
When good hygiene doesn't help
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apa.org
news
https://www.apa.org/news/podcasts/speaking-of-psychology/clutter
years, psychologist research has begun to find that living and working in cluttered spaces causes stress and anxiety and can harm both our mental health and our productivity. [...] It’s tiring. It’s exhausting. As we said, it could be an emotional trigger, but we know that the more clutter leads to more depression, more mood disorders. As I said earlier, lower psychological wellbeing, life satisfaction, negative emotions about the self. People with lots of clutter do lots of self devaluing the data shows. We didn’t do this study, but a study had been done that found it’s related to over consumption of unhealthy foods. So people with lots of clutter tend to eat a lot maybe [...] Well, anyway, we collected our first study that came out in 2016 in the Journal of Environmental Psychology. And that data had about 1600 adults, but only 50 men. And so the first thing I did is I contacted the ICD people and said, “Wait a minute, is this skewed? Is there a gender difference?” And they said, “No, no, no. Men have clutter, but they don’t see it as clutter.” For men it’s, “My toys, it’s my stuff.” For women, our culture tells them, “You’ve got clutter.” So that’s very
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apibhs.com
article
https://apibhs.com/2022/06/17/how-physically-decluttering-your-home-helps-imp…
Jun 17, 2022 — Clutter might lead to more feelings of depression, lack of focus, increased tension, stress, and anxiety.