In this article, you will understand how cleaning has such a profound effect on your mind.
I know from experience that we all hate cleaning our rooms when our moms scream at us to get them clean. But when you clean your room when you are angry, it oddly has a very calming effect.
Although we lazy sloth bears hate cleaning up, it has a lot of negative impacts on us.
Research shows that confusion and disorganization have a cumulative effect on the brain.
Our brains like order, and constant visual reminders of chaos deplete our cognitive resources and reduce our Focus. Cluttered visual distractions can increase cognitive overload and decrease working memory.
In 2011, neuroscience researchers using fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) and other physiological measures found that eliminating clutter in the home and work environment improved concentration and information processing, I have found that I am more productive.
Clutter can make you feel stressed, anxious, and depressed. For example, a 2009 US study found that mothers with crowded homes had higher stress hormone cortisol levels.
A chronically cluttered home environment can constantly trigger a substandard fight-or-flight response that strains our survival resources.
This response causes physical and psychological changes that affect how you fight insects and digest food, increasing your risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
Clutter can also affect our relationships with the people around us. For example, a 2016 US study found that background noise prevented participants from correctly interpreting the facial expressions of movie characters.
And surprisingly, it doesn’t disappear when you go to bed. People who sleep in crowded rooms are likelier to have problems such as difficulty falling asleep and night disturbances.
I’ll explain two different aspects of why cleaning makes you feel calm. The two elements associated are emotional and psychological.
Our actions are associated with emotion and have a psychological effect.
For example: When you read your favorite book, sometimes you’ll become more observant about things you didn’t notice before. It is because we emotionally invest ourselves in this book.
You are attached to the characters and have liked them quite a lot. Now, at the fourth or fifth reading of the book, you begin to notice patterns of behavior in nature.
When you start loving the characters in the book through your emotion and focus on them a lot. Psychologically, what happens in your brain is that it skips on the repetitive information and tries to sort out through new understanding.
It doesn’t copy the same information you feed to it. Instead, it rationalizes that information when you repeat it.
That’s why your parents tell you to reread the same answers and against with the hope that you will begin to understand the process at the fifth reading of the solution.
We have said this already. Our body and our mind have a specific connection. All the things you do with the body also affect the mind. The mind and the body have a certain synergy in themselves.
So, when you clear your room emotionally, you also declutter your thoughts. Assess them, rearrange them, analyze them, and find solutions.
Cleaning the mess around your room is one of the healthiest ways to relax your mind.
The Space you clear is to store more information in its place. It is like simultaneously cleaning your room and cleaning your mind. The mind throws out the trash information you no longer need to store.
This decluttering of the mind makes a profound impact on our mood.
By the time you finish cleaning, you’ll feel accomplished. It reduces the cortisol level.
Cortisol is the stress hormone.
When you are under stress, you release cortisol from the pair of Adrenal Glands over your kidneys. Excessive cortisol levels can cause many health problems, like gastric, cardiac, lung, and vascular issues.
Messy living spaces can cause stress and visual noise in your brain, making your mind as cluttered and messy as the space around you.
Your brain generally focuses on more than just the things you think. It involuntarily stores other associated information like the ambiance, the space, the decoration, etc. So, similarly, when you are in a messy room, your mind also goes on overload and stores all the cluttered environment in your brain.
So, when you start clearing out things, your mind has less visual noise and works towards normalizing your cortisol levels.
When the cortisol level is normal, and body functions are not overloaded, it releases the relaxing hormone, Serotonin. This Serotonin is also called the ‘feel-good’ hormone. It makes you feel good.
Years of evolution must have changed a lot of things within us. The way we walk, the way we act, the way we sleep and behave. But certain parts of us are very similar to the ancient animal we have evolved from.
The early humanoid creature, our monkey ancestor, did not know much about many things, so nature created an excellent method called genetic habits.
Certain information is stored in the brain and then passed on genetically from one generation to another. So, nature gave visual clues that dirty and messy living results in premature death.
So, our brain has certain informative clues which have come genetically that a messy place = an unhappy place. As a result, when you live in a clean area, your mind will tell you that your body is healthy.
One such factor is the rise of Japanese pop culture, which has gained a strong foothold in India in recent years. Japanese pop culture, including Anime, manga, and video games, has become increasingly popular among Indian youth, with many fans embracing Japanese fashion, music, and entertainment. worldwide.
When people feel their lives are spinning out of control or are struggling with anxiety, cleansing can be a way to gain some control over their lives. It gives people the feeling that things are under control.
A study by the University of Connecticut found that in times of high stress, people default to repetitive behaviors like cleaning because it gives them a sense of control during a chaotic time.
Clutter and disorganization can be distracting, making it hard to focus and irritating you when you get stuck at a certain point. It further fuels the annoyance. So, if you’re feeling the urge to clean and declutter when stressed, your mind and body are looking for a way to bring some order to your environment.
Cleaning can also help you reduce anxiety and all such issues.
For instance, a study published in the journal, Mindfulness found that people who were mindful when washing dishes—in other words, they took the time to smell the soap and to take in the experience—reported a 27% reduction in nervousness, along with a 25% improvement in “mental inspiration.”
Moreover, studies have found that having clean sheets and making your bed is associated with a better night’s rest.
And, when you get more rest, that provides a whole host of mental health benefits, including an improved mood.
Additionally, the Anxiety and Depression Association of America indicates that the physical activity of cleaning coupled with the result of a cleaner home helps reduce stress, feelings of anxiety, and depressive symptoms.
Cleaning can also reduce fatigue and improve concentration. If your home is cluttered, chaotic, or extremely dirty, your will need help to concentrate on the chaos that causes chaos. Clutter also limits the brain’s ability to process information.
A cleaner place makes it easy to focus on the job.
Most of my projects got done during college, mostly due to doing them in the library, where the place was well-kept, organized, silent, and clean.
Researchers have found that people with cluttered and uncluttered workspaces are less irritable, less distracted, more productive, and better at processing information.
If you need help focusing on your project, the first thing to try is organizing your workspace. Taking just a few minutes to organize your stuff and clean up clutter makes it easier to focus and finish work.
Limiting the number of possessions can have the same effect, reducing the number of things competing for the brain’s attention.
Cleaning has excellent effects and makes us feel better. So, try cleaning your home next time when you are stressed out. Throw out that garbage packed up in your home, and declutter everything around.