Written by:
Stevie Deale
Spring comes with a new sense of hope – the sun starts shining, and the flowers begin to bloom, which means that it’s time for us to clear out the cobwebs of winter and give our whole lives a good spring clean. Whether that means cleaning out your mind or doing a deep clean in your house, we’ve got our top tips to help you declutter.
Reduce your clutter to reduce stress
Cleaning can be hard to get started, but once you do and get to see the results, there’s nothing better. One study published by the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that clutter in the home leads to increased cortisol levels throughout the day, heightening your overall stress (1). It's impossible to have a clear mind when you're dealing with external clutter. Eliminating clutter makes it much easier to meditate and be mindful, and it will also improve your mood and reduce stress and anxiety. In order to reduce the stress that comes from from clutter, start with one room and move forward from there since it's easier to manage when it's broken up into chunks. While spring cleaning is a seasonal task that many of us undertake, it’s also a great time to implement new cleaning habits so that you can keep your house refreshed and clean all spring and summer long and keep your stress levels down for the whole year.
Refresh your space
Winter can feel dark and heavy, so when the spring sun starts to shine, it can be a great time to make your home shine too. Try refreshing your space using new small accents, like new pillowcases, flowers on the table, a new set of sheets for your bed, or even just a new diffuser to incorporate a fresh scent. Scent is linked to our emotions because our olfactory receptors are found in the limbic system in our brains, which controls our emotions, so by incorporating new scents into the home, it can change the whole feel of a room (2). Lavender in the bedroom can trigger relaxation, while Fragonia and Indian Ginger Root help to boost productivity and enhance your brain function (3,4). Take some time to find inspiration before you begin, and let it be your guide for giving your home a refresh.
Meditation and journaling
Meditation and journaling can be great ways to sort through your mind and give it a big declutter. We often hold onto things we don’t need to, so by writing them down or clearing your mind with meditation, you’re able to let them go and find some calm in your mind. Try one of these to get you started:
Plan for the future
This year has been a hard one for planning and has taught us all how to put our plans and goals on hold, but now that there is some light at the end of the tunnel, it’s time to take another look at those goals. Spring is a great time to figure out what you want and create a tangible plan to reach your goals.
Take a closer look at your diet
As spring comes, so do all of the best fruits and vegetables. Suddenly, the farmer’s markets begin to overflow with delicious goodies to flood our kitchens with, making it a great time to look at our diets. See if you’re getting your five a day and all of the nutrients you need to stay healthy by writing a food journal for a week to see what you’re eating and then assess how it can change to improve your health.
Incorporate daily health supplements into your routine
If you find it challenging to get all of the nutrients you need from your diet, it can help to try taking a supplement to improve your health. Supplements can have a number of benefits on the body. Whether it’s a gut health supplement to give your insides a spring clean, a joint support supplement to reduce muscle inflammation, or a daily wellbeing supplement to ensure you’re getting enough iron and other key nutrients, they can help to support your diet in keeping you the healthiest you can be.
Have low tech day
As our work-from-home routine dominated our lives for the past year, we could all use a day to shut off and shut down. Say goodbye to your diary for just one day and bask in the freedom of a closed laptop – you’ll feel much better if you do.
Try gardening
There’s no better activity for spring than trying your hand at some gardening. Whether you have space outdoors to do so, or you can only manage to pot a small succulent in your window, introducing some green into your space can bring clarity, openness and peace this season. Not only that, but there have been studies that show plants contribute positively to our mental health and improve our physical health (5).
References:
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20053034/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5039451/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3612440/
- https://public.wsu.edu/~lohr/pub/2010LohrBenefitsPltsIndoors.pdf
