Sleep determines how we feel and what kind of day we will have. When you wake up wrong, the whole rest of the day is spent wishing you were still asleep. That is why we spend our lives in search of better sleep quality. There are all kinds of ways to promote better sleep, but one of the best we have found is this simple tip. Clean your room. There is a lot of evidence to support that people sleep better in clean rooms. This might sound out of the ordinary, but it is true. Your brain works differently in tidy spaces, and keeping order and peace in your bedroom is contagious, and starts to create healthy habits for you in the other spaces of your life.

What happens to the human brain in a clean bedroom?

Clean rooms have been linked to stress relief. When people live in cluttered spaces, their brains work differently. Science shows that when you live and sleep in a messy room, your brain produces more of the stress hormone cortisol. This is the hormone that triggers anxiety and depression, so cleaning up can directly help with mental health struggles. Mental health is also directly related to sleep. If you carry excess stress or sadness, you tend to have a much harder time falling and staying asleep at night. Cleaning up can relieve some of this pressure in your bedroom. Another downside of a cluttered bedroom is that when our brains are occupied by trying to ignore or mentally organize space, they can not fall asleep. On top of that, it takes way longer to find anything, so you are hindered both physically and mentally. Decluttering your room is a good way to alleviate restlessness and relieve the anxiety and pressure of distractions in your space, which is directly linked to better sleep outcomes.

Are there non-sleep related benefits?

In clean rooms, there is more open space to have a comfortable life. When your room is clean and orderly, it is easier to maintain that level of tidiness in other parts of your life. Both waking up and coming home to a tidy home base changes the way you think about your life, and encourages you to successfully manage other disorderly parts of your life. A clean room helps sleep habits, improves study time, and accelerates success. We know that the best way to wire in a habit is by feeling the success of its implementation. Creating a habit of cleanliness starts somewhere small and personal, like a bedroom, and permeates through the rest of your life into your work life, personal goals, and relationships. When you can celebrate a small success, your reward center associates cleanliness with dopamine, and you do it more often.

So what should you do about this?

The obvious answer is to clean up. Create a tidy space by making sure you only have essentials in your room, and put everything else in storage. Investing in a good wardrobe or cabinet to keep things in so that they are out of sight can also help to calm down the space. The most important thing to remember when cleaning is that every item should have a distinct home. Make a clear system for dirty laundry, establish containers for toiletries, and clear out the decorative pillows. That way, instead of using things and leaving them out, you can just put it away, because everything has a place. Beyond that, a good bonus way to improve the sleep quality in your room is by washing your sheets. Sleeping on clean sheets means cleaner air, fewer germs, and a more comfortable experience. You may not notice the immediate effects, but it improves health and sleep quality in the long run to wash your sheets every 2 weeks.