by Lillian Liebke

Everyone knows the saying “look good, feel good,” but is this actually true? Does the cleanliness of our appearance and environment affect our mental health? 

The connection between cleanliness and mental health is actually shocking, and is actually one of the major struggles of our society today. A dirty environment can lead to depression, anxiety, and motivation issues. For example, “Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin” did a study that found women whose homes were more cluttered or full of unfinished projects were more likely to feel fatigued and depressed. The same study also showed that women with cluttered homes had higher levels of cortisol, causing higher anxiety. Clutter and mess is also known to cause confusion, tension and irritability. 

There are studies that also show that cleaning can improve mental health, and can relieve anxiety. Being in a clean environment increases motivation and productivity. But if it’s that easy, why is it one of society’s biggest issues today? When someone is already feeling the negative mental health effects, the environment makes their issues and motivation much worse. This causes the person to feel stuck in their environment, and feel helpless because they can’t do it themselves. 

“Look good, feel good” may be true, but the unknown struggle behind that saying is something that is very overlooked. Everyone has their own personal struggles, but your environment is almost an exact representation of what your mental health is like. Taking the time and finding the motivation to clean up your surroundings and leave everything tidy could make a huge difference in your day to day life, and could change those negative effects.