By Sitetrail Research Team

Clutter can have negative impacts on your mental health. Learn how to declutter your life and gain greater well-being. 

Clutter may divert unconscious attention, making it more likely you’ll forget things, make simple mistakes, and be more easily overwhelmed. 

The human brain can take in 11 million bits of information every second. This is pretty amazing, but the conscious brain can only process 40 to 50 bits of information every second. That means that the vast majority of our awareness either passes right by us or is filed unconsciously, where it may not be readily accessed to make decisions. 

How does the brain make up for this discrepancy? There are a few theories. One is that the brain will make cognitive shortcuts to make sense of patterned information. For example, this gap between what we perceive and what we process is also the reason why humans suffer from unconscious bias. Unconscious bias, often referred to as implicit bias, is the hidden prejudices and stereotypes that affect our judgments and decisions without us even realizing it. These biases are ingrained in our subconscious through societal influences and personal experiences. Examples of unconscious bias include implicit racial biases, gender biases, confirmation biases, and age biases. 

Another theory is that it chooses whatever is most prominent—so a big, colorful piece of information will be filed away consciously more frequently than a smaller piece of information. You’ll consciously notice a loud car driving down the street before the ladybug flying past your ear. 

How does clutter affect our ability to process information? 

Well, if you only have 40-50 bits of information, and one is held up on the laundry, another on yesterday’s lunch sitting on your desk, a few on the notifications coming in on your phone, one each for the sticky notes and open notebooks with important information scrawled on each line. . . you may only have 20 or so bits of information left for processing the problem at hand. 

All of this together results in a brain that tires easier, jumps to unconscious decisions without consciously thinking about it, and that cannot see the problem for what it truly is. 

How does clutter affect our mental health? 

Clutter can lead to: 

• Lower life satisfaction
• Negative emotions about the self
• Higher rates of depression
• Higher rates of mood disorders
• Lower psychological well-being
• Higher consumption of unhealthy food. 

One study found that people who live with a lot of clutter do more critical self-evaluation. Overall, strong links have been found between clutter and decreased mental health, especially depression. 

How to get less clutter

The answer isn’t to be a minimalist—although that’s great if that works for you. There’s been a resurgence of minimalist homes recently; …read more

Source:: Social Media Explorer

Author: Aaron