Beyond the obvious aesthetic benefits, a clean and organised living space can significantly impact your mental and physical health.
Neuroscience offers some fascinating insights into why maintaining a clean home environment is so crucial for your wellbeing.
Let's delve into the brainy benefits of a good home environment.
The Importance of Your Home Environment
1. Stress Reduction
Research has shown that clutter increases cortisol levels, the hormone associated with stress. High levels of cortisol over time can lead to chronic stress, impacting everything from your immune system to your mental health.
Neuroscience Insight: When your brain perceives a cluttered environment, it registers this as incomplete work, leading to feelings of frustration and stress. By keeping your space tidy, you reduce this cognitive load, allowing your brain to relax and focus.
2. Improved Focus and Productivity
Your brain is constantly scanning both the internal and external environment. This means that a messy environment can be incredibly distracting. Your brain has to work harder to filter out the visual noise, which can impair your ability to focus and complete tasks efficiently.
Neuroscience Insight: Studies using fMRI scans have shown that cluttered environments negatively affect the brain’s ability to concentrate and process information. A clean and organized space helps your brain to better focus on the task at hand, improving productivity and mental clarity.
3. Better Sleep
Your bedroom environment plays a crucial role in the quality of your sleep. A cluttered bedroom can make it harder to relax and unwind, affecting your sleep patterns.
Neuroscience Insight: A clean and organised bedroom can help signal to your brain that it’s time to wind down. This can enhance your ability to fall asleep faster and enjoy more restful sleep, as your brain associates the tidy space with relaxation.
4. Enhanced Mood and Emotional Health
Living in a clean and organised space can boost your mood and overall emotional wellbeing. The act of cleaning itself can also be therapeutic, offering a sense of accomplishment and control (see below).
Neuroscience Insight: Cleaning and organising your home can trigger the release of dopamine, the ‘feel-good’ neurotransmitter. This not only elevates your mood but also provides a sense of satisfaction and achievement that is really great for your mind-body system and gives you the forward momentum that the amygdala, the brain's emotion centre, thrives on.
Additionally, tackling cleaning chores, especially when you don't feel like it, activates the anterior midcingulate cortex, which is involved in decision-making and managing discomfort. Overcoming the resistance to any such task can further enhance the sense of accomplishment and reinforce positive habits, putting you in a good position to tackle any task in the long-term, as well as actually helping in emotional regulation.
Overall, looking after your home environment is a surprising aspect that can really contribute to your health and wellbeing. Nurturing it, just like you nurture other areas of your health, is something achievable and something we can all work towards.
In the next blog, I will provide some tips on how to improve and maintain a comfortable home environment in simple and manageable ways.
If you have any questions, please do reach out!