A cluttered home has more of an impact on your health than you may realise. In some cases, it may even represent a highly disorganised state of mind. But deep spring cleaning can be the cure for many things that ail you, in several ways. These are just a few of the ways your spring cleaning efforts can help you improve your mental and physical health.
Spring Cleaning Makes Breathing Easier
The deep cleaning techniques described as spring cleaning help to remove many of the items in your home that make it more difficult to breathe. This includes eliminating many of the following from the air in your home:
- Dust
- Animal fur
- Mould
- Mildew
In fact, the asthma.org reports that cleaning mould from homes eases symptoms amongst asthma sufferers, requiring them to use their blue reliever inhaler less while reducing sneezing and other symptoms.
One essential part of spring cleaning for many is bringing fresh air into your home, which can be equally instrumental in ridding your home of allergens and toxins that may have been trapped indoors throughout the cooler winter months.
The most significant benefit of all is that clean homes harbour fewer microbes that could cause respiratory and allergy problems, while also helping to reduce viral agents in your home as well. Especially the deep cleaning associated with spring cleaning that goes beyond weekly household cleaning efforts to target dirt, grime, mould, and mildew lurking beneath the surfaces in your home.
Finally, spring cleaning simply makes your home smell better. This clears the air enough to make it completely breathable for your family, friends and guests as well as the people who live with you.
While spring cleaning is beneficial for improving the air quality in your home, making it more breathable, if you suffer from allergies or asthma, it is wise to keep a rescue inhaler handy while cleaning in case of a sudden bronchospasm attack, as dust is often stirred up during the cleaning process.
Clean Bedrooms Improve Sleep Quality
Cleaning your bedroom can also improve your sleep. It is not only important to keep your bedroom clean and clear of clutter, but also to take care of the ordinary, mundane things. One sleep study conducted by the National Sleep Foundation in Washington, DC, discovered that seven out of ten people get better nights' sleep when sleeping on fresh, clean sheets. Also, people who make their beds every day tend to sleep better than those who do not.
The health benefits of consistently good sleep are difficult to measure. Chronic sleep deprivation, however, can be instrumental in the development of several negative health conditions, including:
- Type 2 diabetes
- Obesity
- Heart disease
- High blood pressure
Deep cleaning your room for spring can help, as can washing your sheets weekly and keeping your room free of visual clutter and tech.
Spring Cleaning Burns Calories
It's true. You can turn your spring cleaning activities into a workout. Spending one hour cleaning your windows, for instance, can burn approximately 334 calories, and mopping the floor can shave off 314 calories, for instance. The more effort you put into it, the more calories you can burn. Things like sweeping, mopping, dusting, and vacuuming your home all burn calories.
However, spring cleaning presents new challenges and benefits, as it often requires working up a sweat and burning calories, often involving a fair amount of climbing, bending, lifting, and moving. Add some great music into the mix, and you have a recipe for a masterful spring cleaning workout that sparks many benefits, such as:
- Accelerated heart rate
- Improved blood flow
- Increased calorie burning
Don't forget, many people take spring cleaning outdoors too, by tending to lawns and attending to maintenance projects that were neglected during the cooler winter months. These types of activities help to burn calories and improve stamina.
A Clean Home Reduces Stress and Improves Mental Health
Perhaps the most significant benefit of having a clean home is the positive impact it has on mental health. The first way this works is that clean, organised environments reduce stress. The second and often unexpected benefit is that the act of cleaning itself can be therapeutic. Scientists view this as not only clearing out the clutter from your home but also clearing it from your mind as well.
The bottom line is that having a clean home makes people happier, according to Natural News, which states that 83 per cent of Brits believe a clean home contributes to happiness, and 57 per cent find the act of cleaning itself to provide an enormous sense of satisfaction.
Spring is here, and now that you know the many health benefits deep spring cleaning can provide, it's time to get busy cleaning your home and clearing out the cobwebs and clutter that may be weighing you down in more ways than one.
