Chores can help you: Reduce stress and anxiety. When you're focused on a task, it can help to take your mind off of your worries and problems.Read more
Self-care doesn’t have to be elaborate or complicated. It simply means tending to your well-being and happiness. Engaging in self-care is associated with lower levels of stress and improved quality of life. Examples of self-care include: going for a walk outside taking a bath lighting candles reading a good book exercising preparing a healthy meal stretching before bed getting a massage practicing a hobby using a diffuser with calming scents practicing yoga ## 5. Try journaling [...] Being selective about what you take on — and saying “no” to things that will unnecessarily add to your load — can reduce your stress levels. Creating boundaries, especially with people who add to your stress levels, is a healthy way to protect your well-being. This can be as simple as asking a friend or family member not to stop by unannounced or taking a rain check on plans if you are feeling overwhelmed. ## 9. Avoid procrastination [...] Engaging in activities that support self-care may help reduce stress and anxiety. These can include getting more exercise, mindfulness practices, and eating a well-balanced diet. Minimizing the chronic stress of daily life as much as possible can support your overall health. Chronic stress can increase your risk of health conditions, including: heart disease anxiety disorders depression Certain factors may affect your vulnerability to stress. These can include:
The British Journal of Sports Medicine reported that only twenty minutes of physical activity was enough to decrease stress levels! Over 3,000 people surveyed reported that regular housework was enough to decrease anxiety and stress levels. While cleaning isn’t a cure-all, that percentage can really help boost your energy and calm your nerves. [...] If you dread cleaning, there’s actually a bright side according to psychological research. A recent study discovered that cleaning up messes actually can have a positive impact on your mental health and happiness. So, if you want to destress, pick up your broom! Here’s why… ### Spring Cleaning For Your Mind [...] Many of us try to do our best to keep up with household chores and cleaning. But, no matter how hard we try, it seems like clutter always finds a way to creep back in our lives. Between work, after-school activities, playdates and everything in between, it’s easy to understand how clutter can sneak back in so easily.
A small study from Florida State University explored whether the chore of dishwashing, done mindfully, could reduce stress. Using a group of 51 students, they discovered that dishwashers who were instructed to be mindful when washing dishes—focusing on the smell of the soap, the warmth of the water, and the feel of the dishes—reported a decrease in nervousness by 27 percent and an increase in mental inspiration (see #1) by 25 percent. [...] Chores that reduce clutter can also reduce stress. Various studies have indicated that clutter can be linked to higher cortisol—a stress hormone—and can also interfere with focusing. I love the title of author Gretchen Rubin's book: Outer Order, Inner Calm. That about sums it up. So if you’ve been yearning to clean out that junk drawer, do it. You’ll feel better. 8. Chores are an opportunity for “me time.” [...] Cooking. Cleaning. Washing the dishes. Mowing the lawn. Making the bed. These household chores are never done; they just get repeated like a broken record. Boring! Or are they? While many people regard chores as necessary evils, there are science-based reasons to change your attitude about chores. It turns out that doing chores is great for your health—both physical and mental—and not always in the ways that you might think.
The anxiety you feel about a messy house usually comes from the invisible load behind each task, not the surface chore itself. Reframing care tasks as functional, cyclical, and morally neutral relieves the pressure to reach a permanent state of done. Laziness is a morally charged label, and an inability to start a task often points to something beneath the surface like overwhelm, neurodivergence, or task-initiation struggles. [...] Shifting our thinking around care tasks to cyclical also relieves some of the pressure to get tasks “done.” For example, laundry isn’t done or not done—it’s a cycle. There are clothes on our bodies, clothes in hampers, clothes in the washer, and clothes that need to be put away. It’s unrealistic to think of it as a task with an end. You’re not a “bad mom” if laundry is at a certain stage of the cycle. ## Practical Ways to Approach Cleaning as Functional [...] For example, KC pointed out that in the past, sorting clothes by color was necessary. However, now it isn’t always a functional need, with advancements in detergents and washers. So, that is a task that she has eliminated in her household. She doesn’t need to do it in order to make sure that everyone has clean clothes. > View this post on Instagram > > A post shared by Erica Djossa | Motherhood | Podcast | Therapy 🇨🇦 (@happyasamother)
I was addicted to using smartphone and I forget my chores but my two grandmothers told me that I should learn how to do chores so I could make myself much
Why does doing housework fill me with so much dread that I end up avoiding it altogether?