Boosting your health now you work from home? You might want to know about clutter, and its negative impact on your mental and physical wellbeing.
If you’re on a health kick in 2021 while working from home, you may well be focusing on exercise, and maybe even some meditation. What you may not have thought about is the state of your home where you work, or more specifically, the clutter in it.
A little untidiness never killed anyone. However, a lot of chaos in your physical space can have quite a few downsides. So much so, it can damage your mental health and even your physical health. Let’s take a closer look:
Clutter And Stress
The more messy your house is, the more likely you are to lose items and so, feel stress trying to find them. The overall vibe of the space is also cluttered and stressful, which means you will be impacted by that in some way.
Distraction
Lots of items in your home may not feel like the focus of your attention, but subconsciously, everything around you is competing for your attention. So the more you’re surrounded by, especially if it is disorganised, the harder it will be to concentrate. This is especially true if you suffer from ADHD.
Dusty Problems
The more clutter you have, the dustier your environment. The more dust you have, the more likely you are to suffer from dust mite allergies, sneezing and itchy eyes.
The Shame
There is a shame attached to a messy home, which in really bad scenarios, can result in a person being isolated and feeling alone. Especially if your home is on display during Zoom calls.
Slips, Trips & Falls
The more items that are around, the more likely you are to have an accident in the home by tripping or falling over them. Even worse, you may have items toppling over or breaking because there is so much clutter on them.
Cognition Challenges
Your cognition can be affected by a cluttered home because the brain can only hold a few details at once, for a short period at a time. If there is chaos in your place, you could find it affects your working memory.
Fire Hazard
A cluttered home can be a huge fire hazard. It may be because flammables are near cookers or other areas that may take light. It could be because it is harder for you to escape your house in the event of a fire. In some instances, plugs and sockets that are not safe are covered, and end up causing a fire.
The Good News? Decluttering Can Start At Any Time
Despite all of the links above that show your physical and mental health can be negatively affected by clutter, the fact is that you can declutter whenever you want. It doesn’t have to all be done in one day.
Start with a drawer, a cupboard, a pencil case if you want. Utilise the shed, garage, an inexpensive self storage unit or spare room for boxes of items you have sorted out. Make sure those boxes are labelled.
Make sure those items are eventually stored, donated, or sold in good time so you don’t end up mounting clutter elsewhere.
If your mental health is the cause of your clutter, the first step to a tidier home is to speak to your GP for help addressing your mental health problems. The first step is reaching out.