A neat and tidy house can improve your mood and help you feel more balanced throughout your week. Cleaning is therapeutic for a lot of people, offering them a chance to turn off the rest of the world and focus on a project that will improve their surroundings and their mood. While the act of cleaning isn’t a treatment for stress, anxiety, or depression, it offers a wide variety of psychological benefits, including:
Mood Boost & Emotional Regulation
Whether you realize it or not, your environment plays a big role in how you feel. A cluttered or dirty home can have an effect on your mood, your focus, and even your behavior and the choices you make. Your brain processes your unorganized environment as a distraction, and subconsciously sends signals telling you to clean up the messes around you. Those signals require energy to be sent – energy you could be using on other tasks!
The repetitive and predictable actions associated with cleaning can be a powerful coping strategy for some. Think of it as an alternative to pacing, nervous tapping, or biting your nails. For people who struggle with anxiety or depression, cleaning can be a really effective way to regulate their emotions and improve their mindset. Cleaning is therapeutic and offers you a chance to take your focus off of whatever stressors you may have while engaging in a practical and productive task.
Structure & Predictability
The act of cleaning often brings with it a sense of greater control. When everything else in your life feels like it’s out of your hands, cleaning and organizing are easy ways to regain some of that command. Everyone has days when things don’t go as you imagined – tuning out the rest of the stress and focusing on one task at a time can decrease overwhelming emotions and help you feel more at ease.
Oftentimes, cleaning and organizing projects have concrete and well-defined starting and finishing points. This can be a very comforting notion when you’re experiencing stress, worry, or anxiety. Knowing that you’ll be able to check this one item off your long to-do list is motivating and can be a great starting point for chores or projects that are more daunting.
Aerobic Exercise
If you’ve ever spent an entire Saturday deep cleaning your house, you know how easy it is to build up a sweat while you’re working. Physical activity helps to release endorphins that make us feel better in a variety of ways. Carrying items up and down stairs, scrubbing, sweeping, and vacuuming are all activities that get you up and moving around while helping to get your home in order too.
On rainy days when outdoor exercise is out of the question, cleaning your home is a great alternative. Put on a good podcast or turn up some energetic music and get to it! You’ll be surprised at how great of a workout cleaning your house can be.
Do you want to know more about how your environment affects your state of mind? Check out The Relationship Between Mental Health and Cleaning for more information on the negative effects of cluttered living spaces, and the positive effects that an orderly home can have on your health and mood.
Platinum Star Cleaning knows all about how cleaning is therapeutic, that’s part of why we love what we do! However, we know how busy your schedule can be. We’re always here to help take some of the stress out of your life.
We offer exceptional residential and maid services that promise to keep your home looking and feeling fresh and clean. If you’re ready to have a break from the mess and experience the positive psychological benefits that having a clean house has to offer, give us a call today.
