Cleaning When Suffering From Depression


Cleaning with cloth

Many people who suffer from depression begin to find that keeping up with everyday chores and tasks such as cleaning, becomes increasingly difficult, and they lack the motivation and energy to really care about keeping their homes and living spaces clean and tidy. Sadly, not taking care of these things, serves only to exasperate the symptoms of depression, and it becomes a vicious cycle that can be harder and harder to get out of.

Research has recently shown that performing at least 20 minutes of daily physical activity – such as walking, gardening or even domestic housework, can benefit those suffering from mental health conditions such as depression and lowers the risk of developing psychological problems. Here are some ways to keep your home clean with just 20 minutes of activity every day:

Don’t think you have to clean everything at once:

Assign yourself a room a day to clean, depending on how dirty or untidy they are, to avoid having to clean every room, every day. Not only would this take much longer, but it would be much harder work.

Clean as you go along:

Putting off cleaning will only make your job much harder in the long run. Try not to leave dirty dishes in the sink or leave spillages until the next day. Put things away when you’ve finished with them, take out the trash when the can is full and try to avoid ending up with too many cleaning tasks to cope with all at once. A little goes a long way.

As previously mentioned, procrastination will do you no favours!

Fight the urge to put cleaning or tidying tasks on hold and do them as soon as you have the time. Many sufferers of depression report having a sense of fulfilment or satisfaction when they finally do get around to cleaning their home and can feel proud of what they’ve achieved.

Call in the professionals:

There is absolutely no shame in admitting that you need help with cleaning your home, and if using the services of a professional cleaning company can help you to achieve a clean home that doesn’t add to your feelings of depression, then where can the harm be?

Pay extra attention to areas that get the most use:

If you’re having a bad day (or week) then focus your cleaning energies on the rooms in your home that are the most frequented, and leave the spare bedrooms or guest bathrooms for another time when you might be feeling more positive.

Depression and other mental illnesses are no laughing matter, and for many sufferers, the simplest of tasks can prove arduous and stressful. By tackling cleaning issues in the home in a uniform manner, and by devoting a little time every day to it, you may find that it’s easier to cope with your illness, and having a clean home may even help your mood and frame of mind.