Mental health: How Clutter Affects Your Brain And What Can You do About it

Humans are sentimental beings who tend to keep a great number of unuseful things inside their home. Of course, we don’t look at those things in this way, we think well probably use them later, or we’re just attached to them because we have spent a lot of money when we purchase them so we feel we need to keep them around. We usually don’t touch this stuff for months, sometimes years, turning them into a big pile of clutter. This ‛weak spot’ of ours doesn’t just turn our home into a warehouse, it also affects your brain and decreases your productivity. There are parts of the brain that make us keep all these things, but there are also parts that want them gone.

Information overload

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Today’s rhythm of life is so fast that we can barely keep up with our daily obligations and we need a high level of concentration in order to finish them all. We are forced to develop multitasking skills in order to accomplish everything, which splits our brain. While multitasking can have a positive effect, if our working environment is full of clutter it can divide our brain in an unproductive manner. No matter, if we have piles of clutter right on your desk or in our closet, working in a disorganized environment, will decrease our ability to focus and process information.  All those unnecessary things literally overload your senses, competing for your attention. They have a negative impact on your performance and can make you extremely stressed.

You have a message

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Your attention is not subjected only to physical things around you. Clutter can hide on your computer, tablet, or telephone. A number of various notifications you receive during the day, from messages on your phone to your facebook and twitter account also have a negative impact on your attention and concentration. This digital form of clutter in the stage of over consumption can have the same effect on your brain as physical one. Even if you don’t pay attention to these notifications, every time you hear a ping or feel the vibration from your phone your brain splits your attention. This usually results in decreased performance in your daily tasks. You become unable to filter information and switching between your tasks becomes a slow and painful process, not to talk about the decrease in your memory.

Housekeeping

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Being caught between various sources of information and with even greater number of tasks at hand, you need to decide your priorities and keep everything else out of the way. This requires a complete reorganization which can sometimes seem impossible, but there are a few tricks and methods that are proven to be working.

• Touch too much

Sometimes even a simple touch can make you addicted to things you don’t really need. Various studies have shown that frequently touching certain things makes you become emotionally attached to them. The longer you touch some insignificant object, the greater value it gets. When it comes to clutter, keep your hands to yourself.

• Click, Like, Share

There is a great number of people who have become addicted to social networks. We already said that this type of digital clutter is no less distracting than a physical one, and you can’t put it away in a box. That’s why you need to make constraints in order to master your consumption. Set a limit for a number of friends on Facebook and to a number of people you follow on Twitter. This can also be applied to physical things, like books – don’t buy more until you’ve read your old ones. Besides the fact that it will lower the level of information, this technique will also allow you to enjoy more of what you consume.

• Safe & Sound

Getting rid of physical clutter is the most difficult because of our sentimental nature that creates an attachment to the things we actually don’t need. We don’t want to throw them out, but we don’t want to put them in a basement, either. Down there they could be ruined by moist, dirt or various insects. Luckily, you don’t have to resolve to any of those two options. Today you can choose from a variety of effective Supercheapstorage where professionals will keep all your favorite things safe & sound, but out of your way. Instead of storing them in unsecured places where they’ll continue to occupy your attention because you’ll be worried about them, just place them in trusted hands and use that energy for your achievements.

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Tailor-made – The conclusion

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People have different levels of tolerance to clutter, some of them even need a slightly messy surroundings in order to feel inspired and get the work done. It is indisputable that clutter has a negative effect on your performance, but this depend’s on your own perception of clutter. If something on your desk doesn’t feel like clutter to you, keep it.  The key is to create the space that makes you feel inspired and productive.