3 Health Benefits of Decluttering
Clutter is a part of life. As we grow increasingly busy, it’s not unusual to collect unnecessary items in wardrobes, spare rooms and anywhere else clutter can be stored. However, experts believe there are measurable health benefits involved with decluttering our homes.
A cluttered home can impact several aspects of our personal health. Clutter can exacerbate allergies, reduce concentration and even affect our quality of sleep. If your home is packed to the rafters, it may be worthwhile considering these key health factors:
- Clutter affects our mental health
A study by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine found that people who are surrounded by clutter in the bedroom are more likely to suffer from mental health issues.
Researchers found that people with cluttered bedrooms experience greater levels of stress and lower quality sleep. In turn, this can lead to mental health conditions such as Hoarder’s disorder.
Hoarder’s disorder can severely impact the home life of sufferers, as they cannot be easily parted with possessions and become distressed by the very idea.
A lack of sleep can have multifaceted implications for mental health. Poor sleep can reduce our daily cognitive function, increase our stress levels, and even lead to depression or anxiety in extreme cases.
- Clutter pollutes our home
We often picture pollution as smoke billowing from factory towers or car exhausts. However, indoor pollution arising from biological substances is just as prevalent.
Australians spend 90% of their time indoors, whether we’re at home, work or simply socialising. Cluttered environments can encourage biological pollutants, such as dust mites. These build up and increase our risk of exposure to allergens indoors.
Biological pollutants can lead to acute allergic reactions. For example, people living with allergies may be affected by rhinitis, nasal congestion, inflammation and asthma.
Decluttering your home and office space will reduce the health risks associated with indoor dust pollution.
- Clutter reduces concentration
Have you ever had a mountain of work that no amount of coffee can assist with? If you are struggling to concentrate, workspace clutter may be a factor.
Researchers from the Princeton University Neuroscience Institute have found that people’s ability to focus can be directly linked to their surroundings.
When you are surrounded by clutter, your brain will process this information, rather than focusing upon the task at hand.
In this way, workspace clutter causes a distraction for your brain that screams, ‘Look at me!’ In turn, this reduces our concentration and productivity.
Time to declutter?
Although we can make excuses for the clutter in our lives, if you have belongings that haven’t been used in years, it may be time to declutter your home or workspace.
Simplifying your surroundings leads to a more beneficial and healthier lifestyle. There are many different methods of decluttering.
The Four Box method:
- Choose four boxes label: ‘trash’, ‘give away’, ‘keep’ or ‘relocate’
- Move throughout the room and select items to belong in each box.
This method requires you to be committed and ruthless in selection.
Box and Banish is a less confronting option:
- Gather all clutter from counters, drawers, chairs, tables, floors etc and place them into boxes or bags.
- Place these out of sight, in a space like the garage.
- Out of sight, out of mind!
To declutter your home, we suggest a combination of both approaches which requires three boxes:
The relocate box – Anything you truly cannot live without goes into this box, and can be placed somewhere else within your home. Choose a relocation spot that doesn’t add to overall clutter.
The maybe box – Anything you don’t utilise but cannot part with yet, can go into this box. Place the maybe box into storage unit for 6 – 12 months. If you don’t go looking for these items by then, you don’t need them!
The bin box – Anything you are willing to part with immediately, goes into the bin box. The bin box can go to the dump, and items in good condition can be sold or donated.
Everyone has possessions that hold sentimental value. However for some people, the idea of decluttering can become overwhelming and they don’t know where to start.
Breaking this process into three steps can help overcome these fears and mental barriers, to simplify our lives for greater health and happiness.
To ease any anxiety associated with this process start small.
Work room by room and don’t feel pressured to complete the whole house in a day, or even a week. Decluttering is a process, slow and steady wins the race.