How Clutter Impacts Your Mental Health (And What You Can Do Today)
- Shiffy ClearSpace
- Sep 13
- 2 min read
Updated: Oct 26
If you’ve ever walked into a messy room and felt your shoulders tense or your mood dip, you’re not imagining it. Clutter doesn’t just affect your space — it directly impacts your mental health and physical well-being.
In fact, neuroscientific research shows that clutter triggers our body’s stress response by sending a constant stream of sensory input our brains can’t ignore.
Here’s What Clutter Is Doing to Your Mental Health:
It increases cortisol: Studies from UCLA’s Center on Everyday Lives of Families found that mothers in cluttered homes had elevated cortisol levels — the stress hormone that regulates mood, sleep, and immune function.
It fuels decision fatigue: When your brain is forced to constantly scan and reprocess visual clutter, it burns mental energy. This creates a state of low-level exhaustion that saps focus and productivity.
It disrupts sleep: A messy bedroom has been shown to interfere with the brain’s ability to “power down,” making it harder to fall — and stay—asleep.
It diminishes focus and motivation: Visual disarray reduces working memory and increases cognitive overload. You may notice this as difficulty concentrating or constantly losing track of what you were doing.
But here’s the good news: even small steps toward organization can begin to reverse these effects.
Start by removing low-hanging fruit: items that are broken, have missing parts, or that you haven’t used in over a year. I’ve created a FREE resource to help you begin with exactly this! Download: 20 Useless Items to Toss Ditch
And if you’re ready to move beyond decluttering and into a system that restores peace, not just space- I’m here to help! Book a Professional Organizing Consultation, and let's see how we can bring your pain points to light and find a customized organizing solution tailored to your needs
Your home should feel like a sanctuary, not a source of stress. Together, we’ll make it happen.
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Shiffy is the founder of ClearSpace by Shiffy LLC, a Professional Home Organizing Business in South Florida, servicing Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties. She loves creating systems out of chaos and is known for her attention to detail, ensuring that each project is customized and streamlined to fit the customer's lifestyle. Her projects are easy to maintain long term, bringing function to any space. She shares her tips and tricks on Instagram @clearspacebyshiffy
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