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How Tidying Your Home Can Clear Your Mind
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As our homes become multi-functional, with families and housemates using the space at the same time, it's easy to let things get little... disorganised.  

A little mess might seem harmless, but it has been linked to lower mood, stress and lack of focus. So get ahead and plan your spring clean.  

For Lee Chambers, an environmental psychologist and wellbeing consultant, clutter is inevitable given the society we live in. "We attach value to many of the items we own, from sentiment and experience to value and identity. We can find it challenging to let go of many things for various reasons."  

Chambers tells us that clutter can affect our mental health in various ways from our anxiety to sleep quality. Moreover, with time, clutter can affect the way we function as it affects our cognitive abilities and physiology. Chambers says: "In a cluttered environment, we have more information to process, visual reminders of our disorganised environment, which continually distracts us as we live in space."  

Convinced? Now's the time start planning that clear out.  

Spencer is one of a handful of the KonMari™ Consultants in the UK who have trained with decluttering queen Marie Kondo. The celebrated method focuses on decluttering and organising your home in a way that supports your everyday and future life.  

Once you've got rid of everything you no longer want you can get started on finding a home for each item. Be sure you don't run out of steam in this phase, it might be worth doing it in stages or early on a weekend morning – whenever you know you'll have more uninterrupted time and energy.  

It's normal to feel overwhelmed by the number of things you have so it's imperative to make some sort of plan before you begin your clearout journey.  

Think about how you can make the process easy by considering storage spaces and make most of the space you do have. Clearouts require a huge amount of effort but your wellbeing will thank you for it later.

重点单词：
Inevitable 不可避免的，必然的
Let go 放，对。。。不考虑
Clear out 消除，走开
Run out of steam 精疲力尽
Imperative 迫切的，命令，紧急的事
Are overwhelmed by 被。。。搞得精疲力尽

大意：研究发现，杂乱的生活环境会影响心情，降低注意力，增加压力。虽然清理我们认为有价值的东西是一件困难且麻烦的事，但是断舍离有利于提高我们的睡眠质量和创造一个适合于思考的环境。专家给出了一些断舍离的方法，断舍离需要养成定期的习惯并且制定计划，坚持断舍离会给你的生活带来很大益处。