With cooler weather just around the corner, most of us will be spending more time indoors. And there’s just something so hearty about enjoying the warm coziness of your home when it’s cold and gray outside. But what if your place is sooo full of stuff that you can’t completely relax?
Having led the garage cabinet storage industry in Orange County for over 13+ years, we can say that people’s perception of clutter has changed a lot in the past few years. Even if you overlook the “decluttering craze” led by the lovely tidying doyenne from Japan, Marie Kondo, there are charity groups that are reporting a substantial increase in donations from folks cleaning out their homes.
For millions of people now, getting rid of clothes, household items, and books that don’t “spark joy” has become a life-changing phenomenon. And there’s a good reason for that: clutter can affect our ability to focus and sleep. If that seems far-fetched, this post is for you.
We at Garage Excell have written before about how to declutter your space in Lake Forest with garage cabinets, but we think it’s worth exploring further to find out just how much of a positive impact this can have on your life.
Here are a few reasons why science says that decluttering with efficient use of garage storage cabinets can serve as rejuvenating therapy for both your mind and body.
Negative Effects Of The Cluttered Home On Our Health
#A Cluttered Environment Can Severely Affect Your Health
The negative effects of a junk-filled environment can be far more serious than you might think. Excess stuff can affect your mental and physical wellbeing in a lot of ways – it can impair your sleep, cause anxiety, reduce your focus, and trigger coping and avoidance strategies that make you more likely to be a couch potato and snack on Cheetos all day. It can also increase the oxidative stress on your body.
If that’s not the most unpleasant combination of wellness issues you want to avoid, we don’t know what is. You may have noticed it yourself – doesn’t clutter make you feel anxious, stressed, and depressed? One study found that mothers whose home environment was cluttered experienced a higher level of cortisol (stress hormone) in their bodies.
When you live in a chronically cluttered environment, it can result in a constant, low-key fight or flight response, exhausting biological resources that are designed for survival. This can trigger psychological and physical changes that affect how your body digests foods, fights common infections, plus, it can leave you more vulnerable to the risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
And this doesn’t stop when you finally go to bed; people who sleep in messy rooms are more likely to experience sleep disorders. Life gets much easier when you have high quality garage storage cabinets that will help eliminate the clutter forever.
#Clutter Can Make You Overweight
People who live in extremely cluttered homes are 77% more likely to be overweight. Oh yes, several studies have found a direct link between poor eating choices and clutter. One study found that messy and unorganized environments led people to eat more snacks and twice as many cookies than people in an uncluttered setting.
Being in an untidy and littered room will make you twice as likely to eat a chocolate bar than fresh fruit. A tidy home is a poignant predictor of physical wellbeing. The cleaner and less cluttered your house is, the more physically active and healthy you are. Don’t forget: the secret of an organized home in Los Angeles is custom garage storage.
#Clutter Is Bad For Your Brain
Overflowing drawers and cupboards around your Laguna Niguel house may seem harmless enough but research shows that a lack of organization has a cumulative effect on our brains. Your brain loves order, and when it is being bombarded with constant visual reminders of clutter and disorganization, it drains your cognitive resources and hampers your ability to focus.
This “visual distraction” reduces your working memory and increases cognitive overload. Neuroscience researchers have found that clearing clutter from the home and work environment leads to a better ability to process information, focus, and be productive.
#Lead A Happier Life With A Tidier Home & Garage
There are studies after studies that show cluttered home environments negatively impact the perception of our homes, and eventually our satisfaction of life. And that makes sense because your home is not just a place to live – it’s a place where situations, meanings, and experiences take shape and are actively shaped by you.
You get to decide whether your home is your castle or your prison. If your home is currently filled with stuff you haven’t used in a while, will never use, or don’t need anymore, it’s time to start decluttering. Your Torrey Pines garage is a good place to start. Consider garage wall cabinets if you need to conserve space and yet have a functional and aesthetically appealing garage storage system in Torrey Pines.
Based on the facts discussed above, here are some of the magical benefits of cleansing your home:
#It will free your mind: Depending on how much stuff you’ve accumulated, decluttering your physical space can make you feel lighter and give you more room to “breathe”. It will increase your ability to process information and remain focused on the task at hand.
#It will improve your digestive system: If you’re suffering from poor digestion, acid reflux, bloating, or gut inflammation, organizing your space can contribute to your healing. How? As your mind becomes less cluttered and your stress levels go down, your body has less oxidative stress and more energy.
The natural detoxification processes in your body start functioning better and your gut microflora becomes balanced. In other words, the beneficial nutrients you consume are absorbed better.
#It will reduce anxiety and stress: It can be mentally draining to live in a cluttered space because it becomes almost impossible to ignore tasks that need to be done. This creates constant stress which can make you feel overwhelmed and tired, and even impair your immune system over time.
Obviously, decluttering your home with smart use of San Diego garage cabinets is not the only thing you should be doing to fight feelings of stress and anxiety, but if it helps even a little, isn’t it worth considering?
#It will reduce dangerous pathogens in your home: The thing with clutter is, it allows dirt, dust, mold, animal droppings, and pet hair to build up. The toxins and pathogens contained in these things can wreak havoc on your health and lead to all sorts of chronic illnesses, respiratory conditions, and allergies.
#It will make you feel less tired and lethargic: Do you feel you don’t have enough energy to complete projects around your home, or to play around with your kids? Do you feel constantly exhausted even though you are not engaging in any physically strenuous activity?
According to the Princeton University Neuroscience Institute, if you have a cluttered home, you are bound to feel tired due to expanding mental energy on the stress that occurs because of a chaotic setting.
Moreover, we have already established that mess makes it harder to concentrate, so you’ll have to expend more energy and try harder to do everyday tasks. Talk to our experienced custom garage cabinet specialists at Garage Excell for advice.
#It will strengthen your relationships: If you don’t invite your friends to your house because you’re embarrassed by the sheer amount of clutter you have, you are not alone. Think of how this is influencing your relationship with your friends, neighbors, and even family members. That’s a whole lot of quality time spent with them lost, all because you have too much stuff!
Need Help Decluttering & Organizing Your Garage Storage In Lake Forest? Contact Us!
At Garage Excell, our goal is to improve your life by improving your garage storage systems. In addition to building high-quality custom garage cabinets from scratch, we also help homeowners in Laguna Niguel and surrounding areas get rid of the junk that’s swallowing precious space – in their homes and in their minds.
If you need help sorting, donating, and discarding items in your garage or you’re ready to give it the ultimate makeover, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at 877-573-6637 or say hello here.