According to Science the Mess Causes Anxiety

We all become frustrated when our home looks like a total mess that we cannot create any order out of it. The more you look at it, the messier it becomes, there are not enough drawers for the underwear, the wardrobes are cluttered with clothes and you decide to let them hang on the chair, the bathroom is messy, the food is overfilled with dishes… It drives us mad, all of us.

Studies have shown that clutterness and messiness in our homes provokes anxiety and here’s a statement by the Psychologist Sherrie Bourg Carter that wrote in an article for Psychology Today:

“Clutter can play a significant role in how we feel about our homes, our workplaces, and ourselves. Messy homes and workspaces leave us feeling anxious, helpless, and overwhelmed. Yet, rarely is clutter recognized as a significant source of stress in our lives.”

There are 8 major reasons why Sherrie B. Carter believes this:

1. Clutter overwhelms us because it causes excessive stimuli and makes our senses go overdrive

2. It distracts us from other things we like to focus on

3. It makes it harder to relax, both physically and mentally

4. It sends signals to our minds that our work is never done

5. It causes anxiety because we have to find a way to make it clean and we can’t

6. It will also clutter our creativity and willpower

7. It makes it harder to find what we need and it causes stress and nervous reactions

8. The overall balance is lost and it throws us out of balance too

According to UCLA’s Center on Everyday Lives and Families, women act way more furious when they see a messy home than men. This way women produce more cortisol, which is a stress hormone. Men who live in cluttered homes don’t produce much levels of cortisol as women do.

The good news is that we can always create order out of our messy homes. Carter gives us several tips on how to prevent clutter in our homes and create a more relaxed, balanced and clean home that will help us with our daily life:

* Get your family involved in cleaning. Teach your kids, give them chores, you spouse must be willing to help you. If you’re on your own, start with one room at a time, so you’ll feel like you’ve accomplished more than you can think of. Which actually you did.

* Create a specific space for items that are small (like nail clipper, or small scissors) and you’re very much like to look for them at one certain place. Use drawers or do something creative.

* Throw away things that you don’t use or don’t need, this includes old magazines, socks with holes that clutter your wardrobe, clothes that you’ll never wear, empty bottles, old empty hair shampoo bottles etc.

* Clean your messes after you make it, get a huge bag and without a sense of guilt throw it away. Once you’ve cleaned everything up open your windows to let a breeze in. You’ll feel way more relaxed than before.