December 24, 2017 | Categories: Health
If you’ve ever gone to bed feeling a little guilty about the condition of your bedroom, there’s a good chance that mess interfered with your sleep. “The last things we see (or think about) before sleep and the first things we see when we wake up influence our entire lives,” says the author of Feng Shui for Dummies, David Daniel Kennedy. Here, organization experts explain why bedroom disorder is hampering your sleep – and how to declutter for optimal rest.
How Physical Clutter Interferes with Sleep
When your bedroom is filled with clutter it will “weigh” on you consciously or unconsciously, according to Christa O’Leary, author of Home in Harmony. This can prevent you from fully recharging overnight. “If you wake up and are immediately depleted by your surroundings, it will impact your well-being as you move through the rest of your day,” she explains. “Your bed and bedroom should be a sanctuary where you’re able to rejuvenate your mind, body and spirit.”
When your brain is surrounded by clutter, it interprets that hodgepodge as a task that needs to be completed. “We might eventually ignore the clutter on a conscious level because it’s been there for so long, but on an unconscious level the brain wants to complete the task,” O’Leary declares. These surroundings can make us feel distracted, down or anxious whether we’re aware of it or not.
Removing the chaos of clutter not only gives your unconscious full capacity to relax and release tension, but it can also help you connect better with your partner. “The purpose of the bedroom is for rest and relating with your partner. Anything we add on top of that can easily zap the strength and quality of those two precious things in our life,” Kennedy says.
Some Helpful Tips for Decluttering:
Put a plan in place. Break the big job into manageable steps and assign dates for each task to be completed.
Enlist help. Have a friend come over and give you a hand, or, if it’s intense and severe, enlist a professional organizer. Get snacks and make a party out of the task!
Make piles. Create piles of stuff you can donate, stuff you can give to a friend and stuff you should toss.
Break up the daily job into chunks. Do a healthy amount of clearing, then take a break and come back to it. Reward yourself when you’ve completed your goals with an activity that brings you joy. “Acknowledging and celebrating each small [task] motivates you to move forward and continue the process,” O’Leary advises.
Get rid of the big stuff. If you can get rid of large pieces of furniture first, that’ll create more space for you to work in.
Send bags away that day. Try to physically get as many bags of items you’re getting rid of offsite that day. You’ll immediately feel better having more space in your bedroom and getting rid of some clutter.
Read the full article on Parachute Home’s blog.
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