Most people probably don’t enjoy cleaning their home, but they may recognize the benefits of doing those mundane chores of sweeping, scrubbing, mopping, and washing dishes. There are certain advantages to having a clean home, and these benefits extend to our mental health. In this article, we are looking at the connection between good mental health and cleaning.
Alleviates Depression
Are you feeling down and experiencing a sense of lethargy? That could be depression, which can often be treated by simply changing your habits and activity level. You might be amazed at how different and how much better you feel after you start cleaning your home as a way to get you out of a depressive funk.
Increasing your level of activity does wonders for your mood, since it gets the blood flowing and the heart pumping, and it stimulates the brain as well. Your body will feel better once you are moving around and getting some work done, and that’s great for your mental state. Simply cleaning your home won’t cure the root cause of depression, but it is a great mood booster. Your mind will appreciate how much cleaner the house looks, and you will be stimulated by the sense of accomplishment, both of which help to keep you from feeling so depressed.
Reduces Stress and Anxiety
A lot of us deal with low level stress all the time and may not even realize it. There are things we wish we were getting accomplished that we don’t do, and there are problems around us that we don’t deal with that contribute to this stress. Some of us worry about how dirty the house is and how much housework is piling up. If you don’t have time for cleaning or you aren’t physically able to do the cleaning yourself, then some really good New York maids can provide the needed help. By hiring skilled cleaners, the work can get done even if you aren’t able to do it, and that will do wonders for your worries and anxieties about housework and home cleanliness.
There are more mental health benefits to having a clean home than simply checking off items on a list, though. The cleaner your home is, the more at ease your mind will be and the easier it will be to focus. This is especially true if you work from home or you are a stay-at-home parent. Having a dirty home means that you are surrounded by mess and clutter, which is not good for your mental health. Getting all of that cleaned up helps you to feel better and allows you to focus better too. Not cleaning and allowing clutter in your life can negatively impact your mental health, so keep that in mind if you feel like you are falling behind on the housecleaning.
Improve Your Sense of Control
Do you feel like there are things in your life that are out of control, and does that loss of control bother you? One of the ways you can take back some sense of control is to keep a clean, tidy home. You can control where each item goes and how much clutter is allowed. You can control the level of cleanliness in your home, and that act of asserting control there will be great for your mental health. It can give you more confidence and make you feel better about yourself. Simply cleaning your home on a regular basis makes you feel more accomplished and fulfilled. You won’t have such a strong feeling of loss of control anymore, and that will benefit your mental health across the board.
If you feel like your life has gotten chaotic and you cannot control much of what goes on, you can focus on those aspects of your life that are under your control. The things that are within your area of responsibility and effect can help to ground you when you take proper control of them. Cleaning your home is an excellent way to do that.
Boosts Your Mood
Did you know that cleaning is good for your emotional state as well? We talked already about how cleaning can help with feelings of lethargy and depression, and it can benefit you when you are experiencing less severe emotions as well. Anytime you are bored, sad, lonely, or feeling a little down, cleaning your home can be a decent prescription for that poor mood.
By boosting your level of activity, you can boost your mood. By moving around, you can stop spending as much time dwelling on negative thoughts. As you see the house start to look cleaner, brighter, and less cluttered, your mood will brighten as well. Look at people who are constantly in a bad mood and see if you recognize any relation between their mood and the state of their home. Likely, their home will be messy, dirty, or cluttered.
Instead of focusing on how your messy home is due to your bad mood, you can see the other side of the coin and realize that cleaning your home will fix your mood, at least to some degree. House cleaning may not be the cure-all for every poor state of mind and every emotional valley, but it can help thanks to the endorphins that are produced as you clean.
To make house chores feel less like you are doing chores and to provide greater mental and emotional stimulation, you can turn on music while you work, turn on a movie in the background, or even talk to a friend on the phone as you clean. These stimulating activities can pull you out of an emotional dip very quickly.
With most kinds of mental health issues, a change in environment is very helpful. By cleaning your home, you are changing the environment you probably spend most of your time in, and therefore, you give your mental state a refresher. Try doing a bit of house cleaning the next time you feel some of these mental health issues creeping in and see what a difference it makes.