by Last Updated on September 20, 2024 by Avia
In many ways, the home is where the heart is. Our mental and physical health responds when our living space is cluttered, trashed, and polluted. Homes are supposed to be safe spaces, places to relax and unwind — whether we are aware of the conditions influencing our quality of life or not, having one or more of the above problems throws our physical and mental health out of whack.
In this article, we’ll cover the various factors that can negatively influence our health within the home, providing tips and tricks to mitigate them. Next, we’ll outline ways to cultivate healing and tips on nurturing health and harmony at home. We’ll also talk about how you can be empowered to take control of your environment and overall quality of life.
Decluttering
First off, take a moment to evaluate the overall level of clutter in your home. Clutter can make even the most magnificent spaces feel cramped, and you would be surprised at just how disruptive clutter can be to your typical thought patterns. Our minds are wired to seek organization, and clutter overloads our brains with stimuli, making them work harder to focus on any one thing. As such, clutter can trigger anxiety, sleep disruption, avoidance behaviors, and disorganization in other areas.
The best approach to tackling clutter is to start small and work through the mess bit by bit. If you’re unsure of where to start decluttering, try:
- The Marie Kondo method: If it doesn’t “spark joy,” it’s gotta go. The Marie Kondo method is a useful barometer for people who have a difficult time letting go of clutter that doesn’t serve their purposes anymore. This simple rule is an effective means of determining which items should stay and which should go.
- Take the mess day-by-day: Large messes can feel so overwhelming that they seem easier to ignore than deal with. Start small in an area that you know needs work, and spend one hour a day cleaning it up. Breaking long-term tasks into blocks makes them more manageable and less daunting.
- Organize the decluttering process: Create a checklist of all the areas in your home that need decluttering. Sort clutter into piles, creating areas for items you’d like to keep, throw away, or investigate further.
If you still lack the motivation to tackle your clutter, plan what you’ll do with those spaces once they’re decluttered. Having a specific goal in mind for those areas that will enrich your life and bring you happiness might give you just enough energy to get started.
Eliminating Pollution
It’s shocking how often pollutants can invade our homes and how little we tend to notice until we start experiencing complications. Poor indoor air quality over a protracted period can negatively impact our overall physical health, and studies show that it can also change the brain as well. Approximately 73% of studies on air quality in 2022 reported that people exposed to low-quality air frequently showed symptoms associated with various mental illnesses. Physical complications like cancer, respiratory diseases, and cognitive deficits are also not uncommon.
Unfortunately, it’s all too easy to experience high levels of indoor air pollution as our utility infrastructure wears over time. Older air conditioning units can produce dangerous levels of pollution due to refrigerant leaks, releasing harmful chemicals into your air without your knowledge. Warning signs are typically slight at first, like a higher concentration of allergic reactions. Over time, they can evolve into more serious respiratory conditions. Another sign that this may be occurring is higher utility bills, as these models lose efficiency when they get older.
Replacing those older models with newer, more energy-efficient air conditioning solutions will improve your overall air quality, removing a silent safety hazard from your home. Moreover, it will make your home is more sustainable, as these models burn less energy to achieve the same result.
Minimizing Toxins
On the subject of pollutants and harmful chemicals, we also need to address the subject of pest control and lawn maintenance. There’s no denying the mental strain of having pests breach your home or the need for preventative measures to prevent ants, spiders, and flies from getting inside. Similarly, an untidy lawn can have a comparable impact to clutter on mental health; overgrown foliage, weeds, and the like can cause anxiety, distress, and disorganization as much as a crowded home.
However, it’s crucial that when addressing these concerns, you’re using methods that won’t inadvertently cause more harm than good. For example, Roundup is an all-too-common herbicide that consumers use for lawn and pest control, but is also dangerous. Glyphosate, one of Roundup’s active ingredients, has been linked to all sorts of severe medical conditions, including cancer.
The solution is to find and use an alternative that does the same job without the toxic chemicals that may cause health concerns. Natural, eco-friendly lawn and pest control measures like mulching, vinegar sprays, and hand-weeding are simple, safe, and sustainable solutions to the lawncare problem – all without any unnecessary complications. While Roundup and similar chemicals offer convenience as a main selling point, you can cultivate a safe, healthy environment outdoors with a little extra effort.
Maintaining Your Home
Sometimes, nurturing serenity and balance requires maintaining the little things. Doing so allows you to focus on what matters, all while keeping you safe. For example, ensure that your carbon monoxide detector works properly. While these humble protectors may be at the bottom of the list, they keep you safe from things you can’t see, allowing you to rest comfortably knowing you’re safe from this silent killer. Besides carbon monoxide, install any security features that may be lacking, such as water sensors or surge protection.
Making a house a home and nurturing health and harmony at home is an involved process, requiring deliberate effort and careful planning. However, it pays off — you can create a space that elevates the inner you. By surgically removing threats inside and outside your home, equipping your home with adequate security measures, and decluttering messes causing you anguish, you can create a home that protects your peace instead of infringing on it.
About the author: Katie Brenneman is a passionate writer specializing in lifestyle, mental health, education, and fitness-related content. When she isn’t writing, you can find her nose buried in a book or hiking with her dog, Charlie. To connect with Katie, you can follow her on Twitter.
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