Here’s How Cleanliness and Mental Well-being Go Hand-in-hand

So many worldly distractions hinder spiritual growth, making it extremely hard to keep oneself with a positive mindset. When you are going through a rough patch with mental health, it is obvious you will no longer be able to maintain the cleanliness and organization in your place. But the more clutter your room piles up, the higher will be the anxiety or stress level. So when you are struggling with severe mental health issues and long for an organized home but lack the energy to do so, start taking baby steps, like picking up clothes off the floor one day, arranging the wardrobe the next day. 

The article sheds light on how cleanliness is linked to your overall mental well-being and what strategies you should opt to have an organized or clean room 

Five Benefits Of Organized Place 

Mental health can significantly improve when you begin to eliminate the stress surrounding you. Here’re some inspiring physical and mental benefits that help you get motivated to keep your place more clean and organized. 

1. Staying organized helps those dealing with poor concentration.

Every day is a new beginning, yet everything tries to pull your attention, resulting in a concentration difficulty. When we make sure to-do list keeping house chores is in order, we can literally avoid the significant distraction. On the other hand, when things are disorganized, messy or you have so many lingering distractions around, it is unlikely you will develop a focus on one task throughout the day. Despite spending time on what you have to deal with, you can pay more attention to the task at hand. It helps you to be in the moment and improves your overall ability to focus. 

2. Lighter feeling

You begin to realize how light everything feels when the house is clean and organized. Instead of piling on the table, when books are resting on bookshelves, the toys are in their designated area. Some antique ornaments are placed right on the floating pine shelves to ooze positivity and make your space feel open, bright and airy. Clutter, however, always leaves a heavy feeling on a homeowner. It significantly weighs you down physically and mentally. Hence, to get rid of the nagging pain of going through things and getting everything organized, spend some time cleaning your room and getting rid of something you don’t use, love, or need. 

3. Cleanliness alleviates depression 

Apart from a clean home, cleanliness also alleviates depression. Even some studies found that clean sheets and making bed results in a better sleep that eventually results in better sleep and provides a whole host of excellent mental health benefits like feeling fresh and improved mood.  Moreover, the Anxiety and Depression Association of America concluded that physical activity accompanied by a clean and tidy home significantly reduces stress, anxiety, and other depression symptoms. It also plays a part in reducing fatigue and improving focus. 

4. It helps to stick to a fitness regimen. 

People who set short term goals, plan to achieve them and maintain a record of their progress are more likely to stick and make most of their workout plan from those who just go to the gym and wing it. When you develop the habit of being organized, it makes you more determined about your fitness regimen. In the journal of obesity, being more contained in your workout keeps you going and motivates you even when you don’t feel like working out. Researchers also found that jotting down what you think after a workout increases the likelihood of sticking with a fitness program. 

5. It improves your relationships

When you are blessed to have a healthy relationship with your partner, it wards off diseases and depression. On the flip side, a disorganized place takes a toll on a solid bond with a spouse. Moreover, the time you spend looking high and low for missing things takes away the time you could be spending together.  You also don’t bring people to your place when your home is messy and can lead to shame and embarrassment. Plurality of researchers also agree that an untidy, disorganized place is often the ultimate reason you don’t let people come in. 

How to incorporate cleaning into your life

No matter if you have just become a parent, dealing with depression or have a chaotic life, the concept of cleaning often seems an act that looks outside of your reach.  Here’re some foolproof ideas on how easily you incorporate cleaning into your life. 

Take baby steps 

People often put off organizing or cleaning the home because the task seems too big to handle. Therefore, consider small tasks each day instead of devoting an entire day to get the house in order. The practice will help you have a cleaner and less stressful home in comparatively less time. Pick one thing you’d like to do and follow through. For instance, one day, you might clean the kitchen cabinets or counter, the next day, you might clean the washroom, and the next day you might put the scattered clothes and put them all in the laundry basket. 

Set a 15–20-minute timer

To kickstart your cleaning routine, set aside at least 15 to 20 minutes and set a timer. And see how much cleaning you can get done in that particular time. Start picking things lingering around the couch, bed, table or lying on the floor. Start it from any place you prefer. 

You can start from the living room instead of the bedroom. When the timer goes off, you are done for the day. Even though setting a time for some minutes may seem a lot of time, it saves three hours of your Saturday devoted to household cleaning. 

Involve others 

Sometimes you reach a strange point in life, where cleaning is not something you can handle on your own! Probably you’ve recovered from a major illness, raising a whole house of kids, or going through a mental trauma – whatever your situation. If you think you can’t accomplish anything without the help of others, involve others to do everything that needs to be done. For example, you can ask friends or family for assistance and include children in the process. It will not just strengthen your bond with children but develop a sense of responsibility in them to put things in their designated place after use. 

When cleaning becomes a compulsion

It will help if you make cleaning a habit as there is nothing wrong when you use it to calm your nerves and distress. However, there could be a red flag when you begin to cancel trips or postponed plans just because the part of your house or cleaning is not done! When you become a little more obsessive, and a little dirt even impedes your physical health, then it is a hallmark you’re bordering on a compulsion – which is certainly not a good sign. A therapist can better guide in this regard and highlight which behaviors are healthy and which might need to be altered. 

Verdict 

When you battle mental health challenges, the thing that probably seems impossible to you is staying organized, as you don’t have the energy to do anything. You don’t even like to lift a mop or put a plate in the dishwasher. Indiana University found that the interior condition of the house seemed to be the most important thing affecting the physical health and mental well-being. Patricia Diesel, clutter coach, said, “Addressing the emotional and mental components of clutter is critical to the underlying cause. I believe that clutter is an outward manifestation that mirrors the body and mind overwhelm’ . Hence, the physical act of tidying up one’s home plays a huge part in making a person physically and mentally healthier overall.