There has been research conducted that correlates poor sleep quality and high levels of clutter in your bedroom and home.
Cortisol is a hormone produced in response to stress. It is released into your bloodstream during stressful situations to help regulate your body’s levels of sugar, salt and fluids. This will result in reduced stress levels throughout your day. Cortisol levels are typically highest in the morning and gradually decrease throughout the day. Levels of Cortisol are lower in the evening to help maintain sleep quality.
Unfortunately, cluttered bedrooms and homes can prevent your Cortisol levels from decreasing throughout the day, which results in poor sleep quality. High levels of Cortisol affects our sleep by not allowing our bodies to fall asleep quickly or enter deep sleep, which rejuvenates us. A lack of deep sleep will result in insomnia or over-sleeping, which can affect our overall health negatively.
The clutter in your bedroom and homes has been causing you stress, which has made it harder for your body to wind down prior to going to sleep. Here are some tips to remove the clutter in your home to improve your overall sleep quality.
1. Clothes
Everyone struggles with laundry and organizing your clothes, which makes sense that the top item that may be causing you clutter is clothes. First, start with separating your clothes into different categories i.e. socks, underwear, tops, bottoms, etc. Once you have everything sorted, decide what you want to keep. Do you really need that shirt from high school or could it be donated? Once you have separated your unwanted clothes, it is time to decide how you want your clothes organized. This will vary depending on what you wear most often, how much closet space you have, etc. After organizing your closet space, you can donate your unwanted clothes to charity. This is a great way to give back to your community and there are so many charities to choose from. Goodwill, Salvation Army, and Habitat for Humanity are a couple of charities that you could consider donating your unwanted clothing to.
2. Technology
Most of us typically watch TV or swipe through social media before bed. You’d think it is a great way to wind down after a long day, but it is actually not healthy for your sleep quality. Unlike physical clutter, staring at a TV, smartphone or tablet before bed creates digital clutter. Looking at these devices before bed keeps you alert and the blue light emitted by device screens reduces the amount of melatonin produced, which affects your sleep cycle. Less melatonin increases the chances of being unable to fall asleep quickly and staying asleep. You can prevent the effect of digital clutter by setting time restrictions before bed. Giving you and your body an hour prior to bed to unwind without devices, you will notice an improvement in your sleep quality.
3. Documents & Photos
Creating a tranquil environment is pertinent to improving sleep quality. Unnecessary documents or photos do not belong scattered in your bedroom. Implementing an effective organization system for all of your important documents and photos will reduce this clutter. If you are unsure where to begin, click here and you’ll find a step by step process on how to organize your documents.
4. Miscellaneous Clutter
It is important to find a home for all of the miscellaneous items that are cluttering your home. Surface clutter is visually unappealing, but also plays a role in your sleep quality. Look into additional storage spaces like shelving, drawers, bins, etc. when needing a place to store miscellaneous items that do not have a place in your home.