There's Scientific Proof That Clutter Causes Anxiety

Dec 12, 2018 by apost team

Have you ever gotten over-whelmed at the state of your house? There are tons of dishes in the sink, the kids left their toys scattered everywhere, and your dog got into the garbage. It is usually enough to make you insane, right?

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Psychologist Sherrie Bourg Carter stated that cluttered homes and work areas can leave us feeling helpless, overwhelmed, and stressed in an article she wrote for Psychology Today in 2012. However, people rarely name clutter as one of the reasons that they are feeling stressed out.

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Carter believes that there are seven major reasons that clutter can cause stress in our lives:

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  • Clutter distracts us from the other tasks we would like to work on
  • It can overwhelm us by causing excessive stimuli to flood our senses
  • We cannot mentally and physically relax within a cluttered environment
  • It tells our minds that our work is not yet done
  • We get anxious thinking about how we have to clean everything up
  • It impedes our creative and productive sides
  • We have a harder time finding the things that we need
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Women are often more bothered my clutter in the home than men are, according to UCLA’s Center on Everyday Lives and Families. Their research concluded that women experience higher levels of stress when living in a cluttered home. 

There is good news, however. Carter has several tips that will help prevent the clutter in your home from overwhelming you and causing unnecessary anxiety. Read on for some helpful suggestions:

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  1. Have your family help you clean as much as possible. After all, you are probably not the only one making the mess.
  2. If you are cleaning on your own, start in one area and finish it before tackling another. You won’t get overwhelmed and you will have a sense of accomplishment when you are done.
  3. If you don’t use it or need it, toss it.
  4. When you make a mess, clean it up right away. You’ll get a sense of closure.
  5. Create a place for every item in your home. When it has its own place, you are more likely to put it away.

Do you have any more helpful tips for clutter? Let us know - and feel free to pass this article on to your friends and family who might also find this information useful! 

Our content is created to the best of our knowledge, yet it is of general nature and cannot in any way substitute an individual consultation by your doctor. Your health is important to us!