If you think being organized is nothing more than
picking up a sock you find on the floor and putting it in the laundry, think again. Effective organization affects every single area of your life...the appearance and functionality of your home, your work life, your education, your finances, your relationships, your future goals, and your health...just to name a few.
Today, I'd like to focus on the remarkable benefits that being organized has on your health and well-being. After all, most of what we do in life depends on how we're feeling...physically, emotionally, and socially.
1. Being organized reduces your stress levels. Imagine walking into a cluttered kitchen. You've had a long day and you just want to sit down and have a cup of tea, but you have to move a stuffed-to-the-max cabinet to find a tea bag. You finally find it, make your tea, bring it to the table...but have to move
mail, school papers, and this morning's dirty breakfast dishes to set your cup down.
That is annoying, frustrating, and stressful. If your kitchen is cluttered, it's likely the other
rooms in your home are too.
Constant stress will eventually have a detrimental effect on your physical health and emotional health, ending up in challenges like high blood pressure,
depression, weight gain, panic attacks, and nausea.
Removing clutter from your home is like removing a weight from your mind, body, and soul. When you begin to get organized, and continue
to be organized, your stress levels will decrease. When stress levels decrease, so do your chances of other major health challenges.
2. Being organized helps you eat
better. Like I mentioned, clutter is stressful. When many people are stressed, guess what they also do? They eat. Stress-eating rarely includes grabbing a carrot, and more than likely includes grabbing sugary comfort foods, like chocolate. Stress-eating is also closely linked to over-eating.
A disorganized person is less likely to have planned for meals, shopped for healthy ingredients, or set aside time to cook, making the disorganized person more likely to eat out, or eat quick convenience foods that are not nutritionally sound.
3. Being organized helps you be more active. One of the simplest activities so many people do, sitting and being sedentary, can lead to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, colon cancer, depression, anxiety, weakened muscles and joints, balance issues, and a host of other health
challenges.
Generally, disorganized people are way less active than their organized counterparts. When time can't be managed properly, and TO DOs are taking up so much time and energy, it's
nearly impossible to find time to go out for a walk, go to the gym, or even to remember to stand up at your desk and stretch.
Organized people know how important it is to reach goals,
especially fitness goals that get them movin' and groovin'.
4. Being organized helps you sleep better. When you're organized, it means you launder your bed linens on a
regular basis, keep any clutter out of your bedroom, and have a relaxing evening routine that puts you in the right frame of mind to sleep. A clean, organized room helps you relax and invites a more restful 40 winks.
Oh, and by the way, cleaning your bedroom, including your bed linens, and all the other rooms in your home, helps ensure there aren't any viruses or bacteria in that room that can easily end up with you getting sick.
And as we all know, it's not only no fun being sick, but being sick dramatically decreases our productivity.
5.
Being organized improves your relationships. There is nothing more damaging to our emotional health than strained relationships. Having too much clutter can cause family tension.
Not managing time well can adversely affect marriages, friendships, and work relationships. If you're embarrassed by your home enough to not invite anyone over, this can keep you from being social.
Not being organized as an adult can lead to kids in that household not being organized as well, which can also damage their future relationships.
The
bottom line here is that being organized is always the healthier choice. Keeping organizing top priority in your life is akin to taking a daily multi-vitamin for your overall health and well-being.
