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verywellmind.com
article
https://www.verywellmind.com/how-mental-health-and-cleaning-are-connected-509…
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. [...] ### Key Takeaways
Maintaining a clean home positively impacts mental health by relieving stress, enhancing mood, and fostering a sense of control over your surroundings. By tackling small cleaning tasks daily, you can cultivate a more peaceful and organized environment.
## How Cleanliness and Mental Health are Connected [...] 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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elevaterecoveryhomes.com
article
https://elevaterecoveryhomes.com/cleaning-as-self-care
## The Science Behind Clean Spaces and Mental Health
Numerous studies have demonstrated the connection between a clean environment and improved mental health – one study found that individuals who described their homes as cluttered experienced higher levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, throughout the day.
Your brain responds to your environment. When you’re surrounded by mess, your mind struggles to process information and make decisions. [...] 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. [...] 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.
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youtube.com
video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVlbS04uQAc
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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▶For more Health Essentials video podcasts: [...] yeah i definitely notice a difference just in my overall kind of like focus um and you know just like motivation if things around me are kind of like tidy and cleaned up a little bit you can definitely tell there's some sort of impact on your mental health absolutely yeah because otherwise you can be distracted like oh gosh i need to put those dishes away or i'm gonna have to do that later so if you start out with everything neat and tidy then you don't have those distractions and a lot of [...] as cluttered or complained about you know the unfinished projects that we all have uh these people were more likely to suffer from depression and fatigue while those who described their home as restful and restorative um were more likely just to be happier and have better mental health so there definitely seems to be some sort of connection um in most people between you know the being clean and organized and having better mental health and i know we've you know touched on it here and there but
O
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 [...] 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 [...] yet to complete. Keeping clutter and mess at a minimum will have a positive effect on your focus, stress and mental health.
F
fepblue.org
news
https://www.fepblue.org/news/2023/02/08/17/34/The-Mental-Power-of-Cleaning
Accumulation. Clutter. Dust. A messy home or workspace can take its toll on your mental health and wreak havoc on your productivity. But understanding why can help you take charge.
Clutter can feel like chaos—especially when life feels most hectic. But decluttering is a great way to regain control of your environment. By cleaning, sorting and organizing, you are engaging with your surroundings in a positive way. Your mind will be at ease and your space will be much cleaner. [...] Accumulation. Clutter. Dust. A messy home or workspace can take its toll on your mental health and wreak havoc on your productivity. But understanding why can help you take charge.
Clutter can feel like chaos—especially when life feels most hectic. But decluttering is a great way to regain control of your environment. By cleaning, sorting and organizing, you are engaging with your surroundings in a positive way. Your mind will be at ease and your space will be much cleaner. [...] The connection between body, mind and cleaning is a deep one. In fact, one study found that people with cleaner houses were, on average, healthier than those living in cluttered homes. While researchers point out the study raises some questions, it does suggest a strong link between the interior condition of a home and physical activity.
M
mhanational.org
article
https://mhanational.org/resources/creating-a-healthy-home-environment
Keeping your living space clean is shown to promote calmness and a sense of control over your day-to-day life. Your home environment doesn’t need to be spotless, but clutter can be harmful to your mental state – contributing to depression, trouble focusing, confusion, and stress. Not only can clutter be distracting, but it has been shown to actually make it harder for your brain to think clearly. Neatness also provides predictability, which can cut down on brain fatigue and anxiety. Less time [...] A big part of a mentally healthy living situation is feeling like your space gives you comfort, support, and calming energy. This could look like keeping comfort items around. Your favorite blanket, a meaningful gift, or a candle in your favorite scent can go a long way in helping you feel more at home. Your home can also impact your mental health based on colors, natural light, and set-up. Appropriate light, furnishing textures and patterns, and room organization can help reduce signs of [...] Plan for Mental Health Month Image
Get involved this Mental Health Month Image
# Creating a healthy home environment
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Optimizing your space to improve your mental health is something that anyone can benefit from. For those living with mental health conditions, it is one tool of many that can be used to improve and support your mental well-being.
## Practice tidiness
P
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
official
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11925691
others; Tesser, 2000). Paralleling such mental mechanisms, we observe that cleaning can attenuate the effects of psychological threats to one’s self—as moral (West & Zhong, 2015), as rational (Lee & Schwarz, 2010), as competent (Kaspar, 2012), and as socially accepted (the present findings). This opens up a broad and exciting avenue for future research: Daily cleaning behavior, mundane as it seems, may serve supplementary coping functions that not only attenuate stress but also sustain positive [...] Either way, the potential utility of cleaning for coping with stressors such as physical risks and psychological threats bears theoretical and practical importance. Hygienic care is a human universal (Brown, 1991) and a part of our everyday life, for good reasons. Cleaning behavior confers significant personal and public health benefits (Boyce & Pittet, 2002) and is one of the most recommended daily routines by the World Health Organization for reducing pathogen risks (Pittet et al., 2009). [...] of physical or psychological stressors, even when they have nothing to do with contamination or disease and would not be resolved by cleaning. Daily cleaning behavior may facilitate coping with stressors like physical risks and psychological threats to the self.
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newporthealthcare.com
news
https://www.newporthealthcare.com/resources/in-the-news/clean-home-benefits
:327-336.
2. Evans GW, Wells NM, Chan HY, Saltzman H. Housing quality and mental health. J Consult Clin Psychol. 2000;68(3):526-530.
3. Park GR, Seo BK. Revisiting the relationship among housing tenure, affordability and mental health: Do dwelling conditions matter?. Health Soc Care Community. 2020;28(6):2225-2232.
4. Gu J, Ming X. The Influence of Living Conditions on Self-Rated Health: Evidence from China. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021;18(17):9200. [...] ### References
Sleep Deprivation and Deficiency – How Sleep Affects Your Health.National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health. Accessed 11/14/2022.
_Originally published on Forbes Health._
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This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. [...] 5. Ferrari JR, Roster CA, Crum KP, Pardo MA. Procrastinators and Clutter: An Ecological View of Living with Excessive “Stuff.”. Curr Psychol. 2017;37(2):441-444.
6. McMains S, Kastner S. Interactions of Top-Down and Bottom-Up Mechanisms in Human Visual Cortex. The Journal of Neuroscience. 2011;31(2):587-597.