Here at The Shelving Store, we like to think we specialize in making people’s lives just a little bit easier. Usually that’s just through home organization options like wire shelving, kitchen storage, and the like, but every once in a while we find that our work has some more...intangible benefits too! A lot of studies have begun to show that having a disorganized and cluttered home can actually increase your stress levels and lead to bigger health problems! Cluttered homes have been linked to issues like stress, depression, and even fitness/exercise problems if your mess gets out of hand. You might be asking exactly how being disorganized can lead to these sort of problems - after all, aren’t your biggest issues with disorganization closer to “not being able to find stuff you need”? While that is a big contributing factor, but there’s actually a lot of smaller side effects from clutter that can all add up to create more stress and chaos in your life. One of the biggest indicators of stress is the amount of things in our visual field. Studies have shown that with too many items in your field of view at one time, you experience severe limitations on the processing capability of your visual system. This can lead to an inability to focus on any one task, which can lead to things not getting done, which can eventually lead to - you guessed it - stress around the house! Stress from clutter can actually begin to affect your body physically as well as emotionally. Information exists that points to how physical chaos around the house can actually contribute to increased levels of cortisol, an essential hormone created by the body during times of stress. While this is generally not a bad thing in small doses, as it helps with memory formulation and regulating metabolism, too much cortisol is frequently associated with health issues like metabolism imbalances, fatigue, and even muscle loss. Cortisol has been found in increased amounts in people whose homes have a lot of stuff everywhere, and physical chaos is one of the leading contributors to increased cortisol levels. Strangely enough, it’s shown that clutter can also lead to less-healthy lifestyles. In a study done by a team of researchers for SAGE, over 100 women were observed preparing meals in kitchens of various states of organization (or disorganization, as the case may be). In the more cluttered kitchen environments, it was observed that the women in the study ate more unhealthy junk food provided in the kitchen than the women in the cleaner environments. We can all relate to this, no matter how clean we try to keep our homes - but what can be done about it? There’s no one solution to fit everyone’s life, but the best place to start is to take a good long look at your home and your environment and see where you can start with cleaning. Decluttering, organizing, whatever you need to do, just focus on what’s best for your family, your home, and yourself. (Of course, if you need an extra hand, we do have our “Declutter Your Home” wire shelving sale to get you any of the tools you might need.) Good luck out there, and if you need more inspiration or advice, The Shelving Store Blog has plenty of advice and ideas to get organized and help reduce the stress in your life!