It can help you feel power over your environment and lower your stress.
Life’s mundane tasks usually feel just that: boring and unexciting. You might feel a sense of accomplishment once they’re complete but the route towards this can feel unfulfilling and listless. If you’re struggling to motivate yourself to wash the dishes for the umpteenth time, vacuum that dusty carpet, or reorganize a disastrous closet, consider this: expert say all that tedious work is good for your mental health.
How can folding laundry improve your outlook? It all has to do with your psychology and feelings of control.
Boosts your mood
According to Linda Blair, a British psychologist and stress management expert, when you tidy up you allow the planning area of your brain to relax. This is important. When you clean, your cortex gets to take a break from being stressed out every time you glance at the undone pile of laundry. Your cortisol levels then go down, reducing your feelings of stress and thereby boosting your mood. In this way, folding your laundry and putting it away rather than letting it languish in clean mounds on the living room couch all week can actually better your life.
Related: These popular foods hurt your mental health, experts say
Feeling of satisfaction
Finishing tasks, no matter how small, can also help you feel more satisfied in life. That chore is no longer waiting to be done but can be scratched off your list, providing welcome relief and a feeling of accomplishment in a job well done. All of this helps clear your mental clutter and free your mind up to think of something else. So, get it done and pat yourself on the back.
Sense of control over your environment
Folding your laundry and completing other household chores can also help you feel in control of your environment. This is a positive thing, for sure. Nothing is worse than coming home from a long day’s work and having to face even more work in your own home. Managing small tasks regularly can help you stay ahead of the game and feel like you’re the one in charge. This can be invaluable at all times but especially so when life brings challenges that can seem insurmountable. Start with organizing the room in front of you and go from there. It can do wonders.
Folding laundry may come last on your list but cleaning has the power to empower. Take charge of your mental health and declutter. You may find you feel less overwhelmed and more at peace with yourself and those around you. When you’re constantly looking at unsorted mail, a dirty floor that needs scrubbing, and dishes piled high in the sink, it can be difficult to know where to start. A tidy home isn’t something that can be attainable all the time but sometimes it’s best to stay home and clean up. It doesn’t need to be perfect but your mental calm will thank you for it.
For more on mental health, click here.
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