Clutter and Mental Health

Have you ever thought about the phrase a cluttered space is a cluttered mind? The space we live in, our surroundings have a huge impact on our mental health. A cluttered or messy environment can often make you feel disorganized, chaotic or overwhelmed, impacting focus, mood and emotional well-being. Let us explore the association between clutter and mental health.

“Clutter is not just physical stuff. It’s old ideas, toxic relationships, and bad habits. Clutter is anything that does not support your better self.” – Eleanor Brownn

Clutter and Mental Health, Mental Illness

Clutter doesn’t necessarily refer to a physically messy space, it often reflects jumbled thoughts, or an emotional struggle. A cluttered environment can have many negative psychological effects and at the same time it can also be a warning sign for an underlying mental illness or concern.

• Stress and Cortisol Levels: A cluttered surrounding can increase stress hormones, specifically research has found that individuals, particularly mothers, experience high cortisol levels when surrounded by disorganization. A long-term exposure to disorganzed clutter can lead to chronic stress response.
• Cognitive Impairment: It is observed that our brains struggle with visual clutter, wherein a disorganized space can drain cognitive resources, reducing focus and working memory. Research in neuroscience using fMRI has found that clearing clutter or decluttering improves information processing and productivity levels.
• Emotional and Mental Health: Clutter can trigger anxiety, panic, depression, feelings of low self-worth, feeling overwhelmed and overall negatively impact life satisfaction.
• Behavioral Impact: An increase in procrastination, avoidant behavior, potential relationship strains, reduced emotional interpretation abilities.
• Physical Health: An increased likelihood of being overweight, poorer eating choices and sleeping habits, and long term health risks of lifestyle diseases or heart issues.

A persistent cluttered environment can be a signal for underlying mental health challenges such as depression or executive functioning difficulties.

Is Being Messy a Sign of Mental Illness?

As elaborated above, being messy or clutter can have significantly negative impacts on our physical, mental, behavioral, emotional and psychological well-being. While being messy in itself is not a mental illness, persistent clutter or chronic disorganization can be symptoms of underlying mental health issues, concerns or challenges such as:

• Low energy or motivation to maintain a clean environment can be a sign of depression
• The sight of clutter can heighten feelings of unease, panic or tension, indicating anxiety
• A more severe form of clutter can be linked to obsessive-compulsive traits, hoarding disorder, which can interfere with daily functionality and relationships.
• Difficulty in organizing or completing tasks can lead to clutter accumulation and be a sign of ADHD

Clutter and Mental Health Statistics

Some relevant and shocking statistics about the link between clutter and mental health are as follows:

• Cluttered work spaces can decrease productivity by 30%
• 73% of people feel overwhelmed when their home is untidy
• Over 80% individuals experience stress and anxiety directly related to clutter in their living spaces
• Chronic clutter can trigger fight or flight response, and increase risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease
• 48% people acknowledge that home organization directly impacts their mental health

Clearing Clutter and Mental Health

According to research, 80% individuals feel more motivated when their living space is not cluttered. Clearing physical clutter can be beneficial for your mental health in many ways:

• An organized space can induce feelings of calm, control and reduce stress
• A tidy environment reduces distraction, improves focus and attention, clarity and productivity
• Decluttering or clearing clutter can create a peaceful environment, promoting restful sleep

Some tips to declutter your space:

1. A structured way to declutter is by taking small steps, for example, one drawer or table at a time, one section of the cupboard at a time.
2. Create a daily or weekly routine to maintain cleanliness, such as making your bed and folding sheets every morning, clearing your workstation after finishing work, doing laundry on a specific day, etc.
3. Follow the one in, one out rule i.e., for every new item that you bring in, remove an old one.

These steps over the long-term can promote mindfulness decluttering in your living and working space, where you foster a healthier mind and space that supports your mental well-being. Gradual steps over time can help individuals in reducing stress and increase calmness, productivity and focus.

In conclusion, clutter has a powerful impact on your mental health and overall well-being. Keeping a clutter free space is essential to reduce the risk of mental, physical or behavior concerns, conditions and challenges. As your space reflects your state of mind and vice versa, nurturing your mind involves maintaining your physical living and working space as well. Hence, in order to foster an environment that motivates you, increases productivity, attention, and overall sleep and cognition, remember to take steps on a daily basis, however small they may be, to declutter and maintain a tidy space around yourself.