Did you know that May is Mental Health Awareness Month? While prioritizing your mental health is essential year-round, this month marks a timely opportunity to push prioritizing your mental wellbeing to the top of your list. All month long, we’re highlighting different parts of your life where your mental health matters, starting with the home. Our home environment plays a huge role in how we feel day-to-day. It’s our haven, our gathering place, our retreat away from the stressors of daily life. Our home is where it all happens.
This week, we’ve curated resources that will show us how we can all make our homes more supportive for our mental wellbeing. From learning the most effective ways to declutter to implementing a healthy sleep schedule, and resolving conflicts, there are plenty of ways to improve our mental health at home.
SELECTED RESOURCES
How Decluttering Your Home Can Declutter Your Mind
By Rev. Chelsea MacMillan
Are you feeling anxious or overwhelmed? The answer (or at least a helpful hint) to easing your worries may lie in the cleanliness of your surroundings. Clutter has been shown to have an impact on our mental health; it can increase the body’s stress response, affect our ability to focus, and even trigger unhealthy eating habits.
In this article, we learn some of the benefits of being clean and you’ll gain access to additional resources that can help clear your space and your mind.
9 Strategies for Managing Your Time
Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris
So many of us suffer over the issue of time management. Our guest today approaches the topic from research and personal experience and dives into how we can think more strategically about our time and aspire to build resilient schedules, rather than perfect ones. Laura Vanderkam is the author of several time management and productivity books.
Listen to the 74-Minute Podcast Here
Decluttering Your Life: How Cleaning and Mental Health Are Connected
Cleveland Clinic
Feeling anxious, stressed, or unable to focus? Take a look around you. Clutter, mess, or an untidy work area can make some people feel overwhelmed. Research shows that cleaning (or a lack of cleaning) can have an impact on your mental health. Clinical psychologist, Dawn Potter, PsyD, discusses tips for decluttering, how mess can contribute to depression and tension, and hoarding disorder.
Watch the 21-Minute Video Here
Improve Your Indoor Air Quality
NPR
Want fresher, cleaner air at home? Researchers share practical tips from researchers on how to clean your house (and your air), test your air quality, and change your habits to limit indoor air pollution.
Listen to the 16-Minute Podcast Here
ASSESSMENTÂ
Is Loneliness Impacting Your Life?
It’s OK to want to be alone sometimes. Some people are happier doing things on their own instead of with other people. However, if you often feel alone while trying to find social connection, then this is considered loneliness.
Loneliness is subjective which means that these feelings are based on your personal experience. Two people can have the same social connections and one person may feel lonely while the other does not. Similarly, the quality of your relationships matters more than the quantity. Someone with fewer, but more meaningful, relationships might feel less lonely than someone with more, but less meaningful, relationships.
Loneliness is a complex emotion that can be impacted by many things such as rejection, separation from past connections, feeling misunderstood, being too busy for social engagement, and more. If left untreated, loneliness can greatly impact your mental and emotional health.
Take our assessment to determine if loneliness is an area of concern for you. Afterward, check out our curated resources to help you face these feelings and build a support system to navigate loneliness in the future.
