Can a Clean Home Help Lift Depression?

This is a fact. For the majority of my adult life I have suffered from depression. Sometimes more, sometimes less. I have had to battle it without using medications, because due to several issues, medications that are used to handle depression deeply affect the rest of my organism. And because of this, I have struggles to find ways that lift me out of that deep black hole where I fall into without medication help.

I was not the most organized woman alive, even though I was told more than a thousand times by my father “A place for a thing and a thing for its place, that is a good thing as everyone can say” or something like that. Perhaps I took after my mother, who wasn’t very organized too.

But searching for patterns, the days I felt better, versus days my simple waking up drove me even farther down into that well of blackness, I realized one important thing: If the place I woke up to was clean, bright and organized, I felt better. You will say, lo, naturally, what a dumb discovery. Yes, it was dumb, but it was very important to me to realize that.

If I woke up to an unclean kitchen, dishes cluttered, clothes from previous day scattered around, the day simply took a darkness index of 10. Yes, I measured it like that. Darkness index of 0 through 10. Sometimes darkness index went to 15, even 20. But the scale was 1-10 basically.

Then I discovered something else, when I was down in the dumps, and I started cleaning, organizing, rearranging furniture, you know, things like that that would make the apartment look renewed, my depression simple gave up and left me.

I have been much better since those methods became a part of my everyday life. Using my fathers maxim, and my own analysis. I even tried to help some friends whose life had become really hard due to mental problems, real mental issues. But it is difficult to give advice to people that really do not listen.

Then, one day, I did some research at the relationship between the condition of our homes and the way we feel. The results are consistent. People who experience their homes as cluttered, chaotic, unfinished, or difficult to manage tend to report more stress and a lower mood. Women who described their homes as cluttered or full of unfinished tasks also showed less favorable daily patterns of the stress hormone cortisol. Other studies found links between household chaos and symptoms of depression or anxiety.

But here comes the loop, depression itself can make it much harder to clean, organize, or keep up with ordinary tasks. Poor mood contributes to disorder, and disorder can then make a person feel even worse. What seems to matter most is whether the home feels manageable, peaceful, and under some degree of personal control.

Clutter is not really significant. If you have lots of stuff in your home, as soon as it is organized, attractive and follows some kind of rule, it would not affect you. I have collections of elephants, collections of frogs, hundreds of books, but everything now follows the rule: “one thing in its place and each place for its thing.” It is not a matter of having lots or none, it is a matter of have you keep it.

Regarding the act of cleaning, organizing and redesigning, there are studies testing housecleaning as a possible treatment for depression. I think they are called ‘behavioral activation’. I think one aspect is moving, moving usually takes you out of mulling, crying, etc. It is exercise and exercise helps recovering from depression, interrupting the downward fall. And then the reward,your place looks nicer, you see more light coming in, even the smell of your rooms improve and that is a very physical but strangely emotional effect.

During the last few years, physical limitations have made it increasingly difficult for me to do the kind of cleaning I used to do myself. There are things my back simply does not allow me to do anymore, no matter how much I may want to do them. So I finally hired Alba,from Phoenix 305 Service Cleaning LLC, to come and help me with the heavier cleaning and organization of the apartment. What surprised me was how strongly her work affected not only the house, but me. When she finishes and everything is clean, orderly, bright and back in its place, I feel lighter. My mood improves. The apartment feels peaceful again, and somehow I feel more peaceful too.

I am not saying that a cleaning service is a treatment for depression. Depression is far more complicated than that. But I have learned that my surroundings matter enormously to me, and when I cannot physically create that order myself, having someone help me restore it has a very real effect on my well-being. Alba is not only cleaning floors, bathrooms and furniture. She is helping me recover the environment that I know helps me function better emotionally. And sometimes, when the mind is already struggling, something as simple as waking up to a clean and beautiful home can make the difference between beginning the day in darkness and beginning it with a little more light.

This is simply my personal recommendation as a customer. I am not being paid, receiving free or discounted services, or receiving any other compensation for mentioning Phoenix 305 Service Cleaning LLC.

With Alba’s permission, I am including her business card below for readers who may wish to contact her. Information about services, availability, insurance, pricing, guarantees, or other business terms should be confirmed directly with Phoenix 305 Service Cleaning LLC.