Did you know that cleaning — in the springtime or otherwise — can have a major impact on your mental wellness? If you’re like most people, you’ve felt a boost in mood, motivation, or focus (or all of the above) from living and working in a cleaner space, but how does it work?
In this piece, we’ll explore the mental health benefits that come along with spring cleaning and how they make a difference.
Develop a Measure of Control
If you’re struggling with your mental health, it can be easy to spiral. Everything might feel lost and impossible to control, which is when you can look to small, easy things that allow you to take small steps toward regaining control.
Cleaning definitely fits the profile. According to Dawn Potter, PsyD, a clinical psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic, “If a person with depression or with fatigue, or with some other barrier, can push themselves or can figure out ways to make it easier to clean up, to be organized, conversely, that may help with the depression, that may help with energy and focus.”
Relieve Stress
You don’t to experience obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) to feel better and calmer in a less cluttered space. Studies have linked a clean living space with a host of benefits, ranging from more restful sleep, lower rates of anxiety, more satisfaction with daily life — even improved physical health.
Cut Down on Distractions
There is a proven link between clutter and the inability to focus on a task, no matter how important it is. A study found that nearby objects that aren’t related to the task at-hand can diminish a person’s ability to focus on that task, no matter how important the task is.
It’s easy to understand how this can create a domino effect that impacts mental health. A drop in productivity causes us to get backed in work or tasks, which causes stress, which makes us less productive and so on.
Find Motivation in a Simple Activity
Describing cleaning as “exercise” might sound like a joke, but it’s actually not. Anyone with a fitness tracker will tell you how the steps start to add up as you’re decluttering a room, taking trash bags out to the street, or running the vacuum through the main living spaces in your home.
What’s more, starting to clean usually leads to a motivation boost. Even if you’re putting it off, getting started can feel invigorating, which can lead you to move onto a second cleaning project after you finish the first.
Getting Help at Baystate Recovery Center
The boost to your mental wellness brought on by cleaning is a nice reason to clean regularly and keep living and working spaces in your home and elsewhere neat and tidy. With this in mind, however, if you’re looking for new ways to stabilize your mental health with increased frequency, it may be time to get the help you need for sustainable mental wellness and satisfaction with your life.
Baystate Recovery Center can help. Contact us today and learn about the support we can offer to you or a loved one in need.
Baystate Recovery Center, a clinically Infused 12-Step Treatment Center for Drug and Alcohol Addiction, was founded by two partners in addiction treatment services, John Checchi and Michael Wilson.
