Clutter negatively impacts people's physical health. Meanwhile, living in a tidy home is a predictor of better health.
My goal with this post is not to scare you into decluttering for the sake of your health, but rather, to show you there are real negative physical impacts from living with too much stuff. And you can do something about it. Create strong boundaries around how much is too much in your home, and when you feel the mess starting to cross that line, it's time to get things back in control for not only your sanity, but also for your body.
5 Negative Health Impacts of Clutter
1. Clutter encourages unhealthy eating habits.
People whose houses are tidier, tend to make healthier eating choices. And the reverse is also true.
Participants in this study who were in a cluttered kitchen ate more cookies than those who were in a tidier kitchen. In another study, participants in a cluttered room were twice as likely to eat a chocolate bar than an apple. And in this study, they looked at the correlation between hoarding disorder and eating; Hoarders (or people who live in extreme clutter) were 77% more likely to be overweight.
While it's true that some people with cluttered homes may still maintain a healthy diet, clutter undeniably makes it more difficult. Why add unnecessary friction to an already difficult habit? Declutter your home and make eating healthy easier.
2. Clutter increases stress.
Looking at clutter or perceiving one's home as cluttered, increases the amount of the stress hormone cortisol in the body according to this study. No one likes to feel stress, but it's not just a mental issue.
If someone has too much cortisol in their body over a long period of time, this can cause a whole slew of health issues including anxiety, depression, digestive problems, headaches, muscle pain, difficulty sleeping, weight gain, memory loss, high blood pressure, and eventually even heart attack or stroke (negative impacts of stress).
It's time to take your stress seriously and look for ways (like decluttering) to lower your average daily stress.
If you want help with stress management, I highly recommend the book Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily & Amelia Nagoski.
3. Clutter creates accidents waiting to happen.
Having too much furniture in a small space, piles of items covering floors and surfaces, and boxes everywhere makes accidents not only more frequent, but more dangerous.
Your counters covered in dirty dishes and food? Be careful where you grab because there may be a knife or sharp object hiding underneath.
Your walkways skinny? Watch your step or you might not only fall, but fall onto a glass or plastic container that may shatter under your weight and cut into you.
Now you may be thinking, "You're talking about a hoarders house, mine isn't that bad." But if you have children or an aging parent living with you, even a little bit too much stuff can make your family at higher risk of injury; especially because as it's not all
their stuff, they don't know where the dangerous spots or items are located.
4. More clutter equals more dust.
While clutter doesn't usually "cause" dust, it makes it significantly more difficult to dust and clean. This in turn makes the likelihood that a cluttered home is dustier than it's decluttered neighbor is extremely high.
And, "exposure to dust inside homes can have adverse health outcomes, such as respiratory problems, asthma, and allergic reactions" (national center for healthy housing).
So, if you want to be healthy, you have to dust your home. And if you want dusting to become an easy, routine chore (rather than a week-long nightmare), it's time to declutter your home.
5. Clutter negatively impacts sleep.
You'd think that once you close your eyes, your clutter would stop causing you stress and health issues, but that is not true.
People who sleep in cluttered rooms are more likely to have sleep problems, including difficulty falling asleep and being disturbed during the night (clutter's impact on mind & body). And in this study, they found that "regular, brief de-cluttering (tidying and discarding objects in the bedroom)" predicted increased sleep quality.
If you struggle falling asleep or staying asleep throughout the night, consider that your messy night stand, that chair piled with clothes, and general home clutter could be a big contributor.
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So, if you believe you have are chronically sick, low-energy, clumsy, or overweight and there is "nothing I can do about it," it's possible you are wrong and there actually IS something you can do about it. Declutter and clean your home and see what a difference that makes on your physical health.
If you learned something new by reading this blog post, let me know in the comments or via email at elena@elenasdeclutter.com and tell me what you are planning to do with what you learned. I'd love to keep you accountable to your new goal(s)!
I believe in your ability to curate a life you love.
You got this!
