How Organising Helps Your Brain (And Why Those Shows Are So Addictive)
Did you fly through Tidying with Marie Kondo or Get Organized with The Home Edit in a day? Did you get an episode in and feel the overwhelming urge to clear out everything you own, or put what you do own into cute little storage baskets? Yup, me too. I’ll even admit that I’ve watched some episodes more than once.
But why do we feel so drawn to them? A large part of that is how we live vicariously through the shows’ latest clients, and watching their cluttered space go from hell to heaven on earth serves as a soothing watch. Who doesn’t want that? We take that satisfaction that we feel on their behalf and it, in turn, makes us want to feel a similar level of it within our own home. But why is it so hard to stop watching? Simply, it’s because we know that each episode results in a happy fix, and so we keep coming back for more. It’s this combination of self-soothing, passive satisfaction, and potential that makes us want to do everything we can to feel a more permanent state of this once we’ve turned off the TV.
Approaching nearly a year of locked down life, we’ve had more time than ever existing in our spaces and caring about how they look and make us feel. And with that extra time on our hands, the list of possible reasons that we haven’t done it sooner have vanished. Of course, not everyone feels this, but if you’re in my club, you’ll admit to these kinds of shows and your empty lockdown agenda swaying you into gradually working your way through every shelf and cupboard. Aside from the pride you feel when your world is organised, taking the time to do it can have some great impacts on your mind and body. So if you’re on the fence about getting your butt in gear and having a clear out or re-shuffle, we’re going to tell you just some of the benefits.
It can reduce stress levels and depression.
Pre-COVID, there was nothing worse than coming home to stuff everywhere, or a to-do list that never ends and takes chunks out of your down time. As we get closer towards the end of our day, our body’s primary stress hormone, cortisol, naturally decreases. However, when we enter our home to mess or unfinished business, it can prevent this decline in cortisol and keep you stressed out. Combine that with working from home, or being stuck indoors unable to escape the chaos, and that feeling intensifies. A 2010 study shows that women who lived in “cluttered” homes not only had higher levels of cortisol than women who described their homes as “restful”, but were more depressed and struggled with fatigue more. Cortisol can take a toll on your mood, or even your health, so if you’re feeling stressed out, or struggling with a particularly low period, organising may help.
It can help you sleep better.
The importance of sleep cannot be stressed enough; it keeps us functioning at our best, and when we’ve had a rough night’s sleep – or simply not enough – we know about it. But with stress being one of the key factors that interfere with us getting some good quality shut-eye, it makes sense that existing in a more organised space means that your sleep will show some improvement too.
It can help with mental organisation.
Physical clutter = mental clutter. And we all know mental clutter is the absolute worst. It means our brain runs a million miles a minute, and a lot of what we want to think about is interrupted by all the other distractions that keep popping into our heads. Being organised, especially in your workspace, can help turn the volume down on those pesky thoughts and create a more productive mindset. Plus, the physical organisation of your space aids this too, as there’s less around to distract you from the task at hand.
It can help improve your relationships.
When you co-exist in a space with your significant other and everything is cluttered, the impact that it can have on your cortisol levels can create tension between you and a conflicting atmosphere. Plus, when things don’t have specific homes (by that, I mean a place where you will always find the item you’re looking for), you lose out on time with your partner because you’re hunting high and low for a stapler. It’s not just your romantic relationships that can be improved though – your friendships will benefit too. Okay, right now, we can’t have our friends over, but when our places are messy or cluttered, we’re less likely to invite someone over. Or, if you do, you might be preoccupied worrying about what your friend might be thinking about the state of your space. With an organised home, you can welcome friends in warmly (when it’s safe to do so), and your complete focus can be on your friend and the time that you’re spending with them.
It can help your eating patterns.
This sounds wild, I know, but a study featured in the Psychological Science journal found that if you’re in a space that’s untidy or super disorganised, you’re more likely to lean to coping mechanisms such as emotional eating. Why? Well, remember that pesky cortisol? Higher levels of cortisol equals increased stress, and stress – similar to trauma – can play a huge part in what we eat, and how much. Emotional eating is a go-to reaction to stress, and a core part of learning to eat intuitively is to recognise the triggers that come with it. If stress is a common trigger for your own emotional eating, consider a clean-up or clean out.
Your home is your haven, so it’s important to make it work for you, rather than against you. A spring (or winter!) clean might just be what it takes to turn your merely liveable space into the most blissful of abodes.
Image credit: Netflix / Get Organised with the Home Edit
Want to support The Unedit and the work that we do? Buy us a coffee.
