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Spring Cleaning Can Improve Your Health

gary-call5Issue 13.11

Spring is here, which means it’s also time for spring cleaning. Perhaps this year you can look at spring cleaning as a benefit not only for your home but for your physical and mental health.  Mold, bacteria and haphazardly stored personal belongings can have a negative impact on your health.

Removing clutter from your home can be a great way to improve home safety.  Living spaces that are cluttered and disorganized can increase the risk of falls and injuries within the home.  Falling is a major health risk for seniors and those living with disabilities.  Fire safety is also an issue when living space is overcrowded.

In addition to the hygienic and physical health reasons, cleaning out that closet or removing the clutter from your garage can have a significant, positive impact on your psychological well-being.  Visual clutter can make it harder for you to remember where you left something.  A study by the National Institute of Mental Health found that a cluttered scene caused a suppression of activity in a circuit of the brain critical to the recognition of objects.  

Removing clutter can also help with organization and efficiency, which in turn helps people feel calmer and in control.  A healthy attention to keeping one’s house in order can help us better deal with the daily stresses that we all face.  By taking the opportunity to organize your home during spring cleaning, you can relieve yourself of the stress and anxiety that can result from misplacing something.

The cumulative effect of hauling bags of trash, scrubbing tiles and reorganizing a dresser full of clothes is also likely to get your heart rate going, which is also known to improve mental functions.  Exercise can relieve symptoms of depression and anxiety.  Studies show that as little as 20 minutes of physical activity a day, including house work, can improve your mental health, so take time each week to clean up and break a sweat – all in the name of mental health.

Molina Medicare 1-866-403-8293 TTY 1-800-346-4128 8 AM – 8PM local time, 7 days a week

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