Here are some examples and some very specific ways that your clutter impacts your health. We’ve also added a few things that weren’t mentioned but are still important to understand.
Clutter hides germs and bacteria.
It’s not always just other clutter that’s hiding under clutter. Your clutter might actually be housing some living stuff too. Stacks of things in the kitchen where you’re cleaning meat or the bathroom where you’re tending to your entire body could be collecting bacteria like salmonella and E. coli.
Moist areas also tend to grow mold and algae that could grow on or get trapped in your clutter.
Dust accumulates on and around clutter and leads to respiratory problems.
Anyone have breathing problems, allergies, or sinus issues? Show of hands? A lot of people have these issues and a lot of people’s KIDS have these issues. Clutter may or may not be the cause of the problems but it definitely can be a contributing factor.
Clutter collects and hides dust and dust mites in, on, and around it. Cloth clutter impacts your health by absorbing dust and allergens causing irritation when used, sat on, or in the vicinity.
Studies have shown that clutter leads to stress.
Clutter= stress. There are so many studies and so much research to support this. UCLA studied 32 American families in California and found that the mothers’ stress hormone, cortisol, spiked while handling their belongings.
This same study showed that 75% of the families couldn’t even park their car in their garage because they had so much stuff. Princeton University did a different study that showed that clutter in sight competes for your brain’s processing power and inhibits its ability to process information. This is an indirect way that clutter impacts your health through the vehicle of stress.
Dr. Rick Hanson shared another study showing that prolonged periods of stress actually change the structure of the brain, making us even more susceptible to stress in the future.
High cortisol levels damage the hippocampus which is the part of the brain responsible for calming down the amygdala. The amygdala is the part that responds with stress. The result is less of an ability to deal with stress altogether.
Depression is associated with clutter.
Depression has a chicken/egg relationship with clutter. Bouts of depression contribute to cluttered environments due to lethargy and lack of caring that presents.
But also, cluttered and gross environments have been shown to lead to lethargy and depression. Sometimes, we hold onto sentimental clutter that contributes to our depression.
Bluezones, in their billion-data worldwide study, found that your environment is the number one thing you can change to quickly stack the chips in favor of your own happiness.
Our environments directly impact our energy.
Finally, the one thing that we say so much it’s practically become our catchphrase- our environments have a direct impact on our energy. It’s just true.
There’s nothing that can affect your mood and energy as immediately as our surroundings- just by walking in the room. It’s like the comparison of a day spa vs a haunted house.
When you walk into a day spa your shoulders relax, you feel soothed, and your brain calms. When you walk into a haunted house you receive the opposite effect. They immediately influence your energy.
When the cluttered space belongs to you, you feel responsible for it. This can make you feel negative about yourself. Your stuff indicates what you tolerate.
If you’re tolerating junk you don’t like, that’s only partially functional, and isn’t even your style because it’s mostly hand-me-downs…well, your energy isn’t going to be flowing.
Remember how clutter impacts your health.
So, keep these things in mind when you’re deciding how you want to play out your minutes here on earth and make some changes as necessary.
OCD, Organize Create Design LLC 