The Benefits of Spring Cleaning

Spring is here and so is Spring Cleaning! But when cleaning is literally a chore, why bother?

“Our outer worlds invariably affect our inner worlds and vice versa,” Danielle Roeske, Psy.D., vice president of residential services at Newport Healthcare, states. “When there is order and structure to our outer environment, it can help us feel more able to manage some of the internal feeling states and worlds.”

Cleaning to feel better? This may seem like hyperbole, but our environments (work, home, car, etc.) have a very real impact on our mental health! Over the years studies have connected mental health to environmental exposure. In 1997 studies showed significant connections between the environment a child was raised in and how it affected their mental health as an adult. In 2000, a comparative study showed correlated improvements in housing quality to residents’ improved mental health. And just a few years ago, a 2020 Korean study associated substandard housing conditions with a greater likelihood of depressive symptoms in tenants. These findings have been supported by other studies as well.

Cleanliness and order in one’s environment invariably leads to improved mental health, focus, decreased stress, and more! However, your sense of order doesn’t need to be the same as someone else’s. While one person may find color coding their books on their bookshelf neat and orderly, another may find just having the books on the shelf and dusted satisfactory! The minimum takeaway should be improving cleanliness (getting rid of exposed food, dusting, sweeping and vacuuming, etc.) and maintaining order (removing clutter from the floor, shelves, chairs and the bed, have clothes or items in their proper place).

While cleaning up your house can improve your mental health, depression can unfortunately make the task of cleaning difficult to begin. A popular method employed by those stricken with ADHD is to muster up enough focus to take care of just one task. That could be cleaning the dishes in the sink, taking out the trash, folding a pile of clothes, etc. Most find that once they finish that singular task, they’ll often now have the momentum to continue cleaning.

Of course, if even these or other methods don’t work for you or someone you know with depression, then serious professional help should be sought out. With professional psychiatric help and/or speaking to a therapist, one can hopefully gain better control of their symptoms and begin even the basic steps of cleaning.

Just as “exercise, nutrition, and good sleep” can be extremely beneficial for mental health, it’s not a cure for people with serious symptoms, but it isn’t something to be ignored! Same with keeping a tidy home and work environment. Exercise, health, and cleanliness all contribute to an improved quality of life!

Photo by Gil Ribeiro on Unsplash