You might experience depression or low self-esteem because of housing problems. For example, this may happen if you need to move around a lot, making you feel less secure and affecting your relationships. Your living situation might make you feel lonely. This might happen if you live alone.
A peaceful and visually appealing home setting can create a greater sense of wellbeing than a cluttered, chaotic home. Even the color of your walls and furnishings can affect your mental health. Studies have found that color can affect a person's mood, behavior, and even cognitive function.
If you don't feel like you can leave the house, you might assume you're just depressed. While not wanting to leave the house can be a symptom of depression, it's more likely you have another condition called agoraphobia, a fear of open spaces. Although agoraphobia isn't common, it's associated with anxiety.
Research has found that a messy home is linked with worsening well-being. For example, a 2020 study found that both adults and kids who lived in disorganized households were more likely to experience cognitive and behavioral problems. A cluttered home also contributed to higher family conflict.
And your physical and mental health
Clutter can make us feel stressed, anxious and depressed.
If you're looking for an easy way to reduce stress, decluttering your environment may be a good place to start. Getting rid of excess stuff can benefit your mental health by making you feel calmer, happier, and more in control. A tidier space can make for a more relaxed mind.
A study by the University of Connecticut found that by removing or controlling clutter, we can directly reduce the stress that stems from the mess which can help us to feel happier, less anxious, and more confident in ourselves.
Clutter bombards our minds with excessive stimuli (visual, olfactory, tactile), causing our senses to work overtime on stimuli that aren't necessary or important. Clutter distracts us by drawing our attention away from what our focus should be on. Clutter makes it more difficult to relax, both physically and mentally.
A cluttered, untidy environment actually generates more of the stress hormone cortisol in the brain. So, if your home and living spaces are clutter-free, tidy and clean then you can assume you'll generate less cortisol and reap the rewards mentally.
Clutter can make us feel stressed, anxious and depressed. Research from the United States in 2009, for instance, found the levels of the stress hormone cortisol were higher in mothers whose home environment was cluttered.
Staying home for long periods can increase a person's risk of experiencing several mental and physical health conditions. People should keep a note of any adverse symptoms that they experience and seek medical assistance if these symptoms affect their daily life.
1. Psychological stress from staying at home a lot. Most people will start to feel uncomfortable or depressed after a few days at home. Staying indoors all the time, people lose access to the natural world, and that means actions and emotional experiences are the same day in and day out.
Low levels of serotonin are usually linked with mood swings and depression. Cooping inside for great lengths of time can build up anxiety and restlessness. Feeling restless can also make one become more irritable and upset than usual by seemingly minor things.
A messy home environment doesn't always cause stress or anxiety for people, but in an individual with anxiety, it can make a huge difference. If you struggle with anxiety, consider evaluating your home environment. A cluttered home can sometimes be an issue because it sits at the back of your mind on your to-do list.
Homegrown stress can be traced to numerous sources – a noisy environment, an unhappy spouse, financial worries, or even mundane domestic duties such as doing the laundry or mowing the lawn. Stress is not a subject to be taken lightly.
Try adding a bright rug, some pillows, or a little colorful artwork to give a dark room new life. Bring in a little nature. Bringing in a little bit of the outside world is nice in any space, but especially nice in dark or windowless spaces, which can have a close, claustrophobic feel.
Most often, a house that is so messy that it is unsafe or unlivable is a sign of an underlying mental health issue. While you might judge others for “laziness” when their homes are messy, they often do not want to live this way. They likely have no support to treat their mental illness or any family members to help.
Some ADHD experts believe that a cluttered desk, closet, or house reflects a disorganized mind; others take it as a sign of genius. A lot of adults with ADHD, including me, agree with the latter opinion. Either view can be true, depending on the individual and the degree of his disorganization.
Clutter can be a physical manifestation of mental health issues, Walsh tells WebMD. Those overwhelmed with "memory" clutter may have an undue preoccupation with things in the past and become depressed. Those who can't toss out items because they worry they will need them may be too anxious, he says.
Researchers have found that a cluttered home contributes to stress, anxiety, and poor concentration. When a person's home is dirty, they may begin to feel overwhelmed, out of control, and anxious. Having a clean, accessible home can also make daily routines much easier.
If you don't clean your house, it might mean you are busy and have little time to clean and organize. It might be a sign that you have too much stuff. Or it might be the result of having young kids in the house who are usually not motivated to clean up after themselves.
Compulsive decluttering is a type of disorder that is classified within a broad name, obsessive compulsive disorder, or OCD. Compulsive decluttering is the act of throwing items, or clutter, away, or getting rid of them in an attempt to "clean up" what one with the disorder may think is cluttered.
Fear can be one of the worst negative emotions of decluttering that you may not have realised can occur. It happens because it's all too easy to be afraid of making the wrong decision. What if we get rid of something that we think is clutter right now, but that we find we actually DO need later on.