By keeping a clean and organized environment — whether it is your home, office or vehicle — you allow yourself to hold power over your anxiety and the stressors of the day or week ahead. In an era defined by constant notifications, packed schedules and digital overload, physical surroundings often become the one factor we can directly control.
As clothes on the bed or papers on the desk pile up, we have all found ourselves stuck in the cycle of simply resolving to “take care of it later.” Accumulating these burdens is simple. The mess is not only present in our minds but in our environment as well. What begins as a single neglected item can quickly snowball into a source of daily tension.
Mental Health America, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting mental well-being, emphasizes the psychological benefits of cleanliness.
“Keeping your living space clean is shown to promote calmness and a sense of control over your day-to-day life,” the organization said in an online resource.
This does not mean that every minute detail of your environment needs to be in immaculate condition, but rather that simply going about your day and picking up after yourself will benefit your health in the long run.
Leaving your surroundings unkempt can easily begin to dictate the state of your mind. As your thoughts seem to be all over the place, settings such as your room or other aspects of your environment serve as a reflection of that.
Nuvance Health, a nonprofit health system serving communities in the Northeast, explains the cognitive effects of clutter.
“A disorganized environment and a cluttered mind can overwhelm your brain, impair your focus, increase anxiety and stress, disturb your sleep and even dampen your mood and memory,” Nuvance Health said.
The organization further describes the mental strain caused by overstimulation.
“Your brain’s processing centers become overwhelmed by all the incoming signals,” Nuvance Health said.
It is hard to focus on just one thing at a time when you are looking in a certain direction and are presented with multiple objects you may have forgotten about. The brain begins showing signs of strain.
“It’s overworked by the disorganization,” Nuvance Health said. “This constant sensory overload can increase mental fatigue.”
You may think nearby clutter is not affecting you, but it is. Even minor visual distractions compete for your attention and subtly drain cognitive energy throughout the day.
“Your brain’s attention system must constantly decide what to tune out and what to concentrate on, and the more clutter in the visual field or in your mind, the harder that job becomes,” Nuvance Health said.
This is why cleaning your space as your day goes on is significant. Although it may be difficult and times get busy, consider the situation from a different perspective: Would you rather occasionally take an entire day to clean your space, or simply do so in short, frequent increments?
By continuously putting small tasks off to the side and engaging in constant procrastination, you will eventually recognize the disorganization and mess that appears. Instead, choose to keep your space clean as often as you can.
We are human. We work and attend school. But when our productivity, mental clarity, and even our physical health stand to benefit, we are never too busy to keep our environment clean and organized.
