Atmosphere: Why Clutter Stresses Your Brain

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Our brain uses the same processes to navigate a space as it did hundreds of thousands of years ago. It’s all about surviving and thriving, which is why it seeks order and predictability in your surroundings. When you enter a room, your brain quickly processes visual and spatial cues to understand the environment and assess any potential threats or necessary actions. This process, known as spatial cognition, involves: [1]

Attention Allocation: Focusing on relevant stimuli while filtering out distractions.

Memory Recall: Accessing stored information about similar environments to inform expectations.

Decision-Making: Determining appropriate actions based on the current layout and context.

Clutter disrupts these processes by overwhelming your senses with excessive stimuli, making it harder to focus and process information efficiently. Even if you're not consciously aware of it, your brain expends extra energy to assess and re-assess a disorganised environment.

The Mental Energy Drain of Clutter

Constantly processing cluttered spaces leads to cognitive overload, where your brain's resources are stretched thin. This can result in increased stress levels because your brain perceives clutter as a multitude of unfinished tasks. Disorganised environments can increase cortisol levels, the body's primary stress hormone, contributing to feelings of anxiety and fatigue.[2]

Stress doesn’t have to be displayed in extreme forms to have negative effects. Mild irritation at misplaced objects, navigating furniture, or a crowded desk can all add to a simmering stress response that reduces focus and contributes to a sense of overwhelm.  

What Our Senses Perceive as Safe, Supportive Spaces

The study of what constitutes a safe and supportive space has been a key research area for many disciplines of science and health. Findings from environmental psychology for example, have had a significant influence on the design world.

One of the most referenced concepts comes from Rachel and Stephen Kaplan, environmental psychologists who developed the Preference Matrix.[3] This framework suggests that people prefer environments that balance two key needs:

Understanding: The ability to make sense of the environment.

Exploration: The desire to investigate and discover more within the environment.

The matrix identifies four attributes that contribute to environmental preference:

Coherence: The degree to which a scene is orderly and makes sense.

Complexity: The richness and variety present in the scene.

Legibility: The ease with which one can navigate and understand the environment.

Mystery: The promise of new information if one were to explore further.

Environments that skilfully combine these elements are often perceived as more engaging and less stressful.

These principles are leveraged by architects and interior designers to create environments that can calm us while fostering rejuvenation and inspiration. Biophilia is just one of these design methodologies.  

Optimal Spatial Layouts for Well-Being

While individual needs and goals play a role, some basic principles for designing spaces that promote mental clarity and energy include:

Minimalist-ish: Keeping spaces tidy and free of unnecessary items reduces visual distractions. This doesn’t mean replicating the sparseness of a magazine-perfect home. Instead, aim for a balance of coherence and complexity, as outlined in the Preference Matrix. This creates a sense of calm order while maintaining visual interest.

Open Layouts: Spaces with clear pathways and open areas facilitate movement and reduce feelings of confinement. Having to navigate furniture or clutter just to move from one room to another adds unnecessary stress.

Natural Elements: Incorporating plants and natural light to enhance mood and cognitive function. A wealth of evidence supports the health benefits of nature and light to our sense of wellbeing. As an example, review the article, Aurora – Light: How Light Affects Energy, Mood and Focus.

This example demonstrates a calming space with nature inspired colours, natural materials, texture, plants, natural light and space, all of which allow the mind to breathe.

However, this may not suit everyone.

Individual Differences

No doubt, some of you are thinking of people, maybe even yourself, who don’t fit the mould of preferring calm, uncluttered spaces. These individuals may appear unphased with benchtops covered in items or celebrate a maximalist approach with a variety of colours and ornaments everywhere.

While we all share the same sensory processes, our lived experiences, personality traits, and cognitive styles introduce variation. Research points to design principles that can work in a spectrum of behaviour, but these should never override an individual’s needs.

For instance, certain creative types might find that a level of disorganisation fosters innovative thinking, while people with strong Sensory Seeker traits may become quickly bored in a minimalist environment.

However, even those who seem to function well in cluttered spaces, their brains are still processing the excess stimuli. This still consumes mental energy which over time and can lead to cognitive fatigue. Creating a calming environment, at least in bedrooms, is beneficial for everyone.

The key is understanding your personal preferences to create harmonious and productive spaces for yourself and your family.

Too busy for some, cozy and relaxing to others.

This style still has a sense of order and clear space with restful elements for the eye, such as plants and nature based artwork and furnishings.

Rearranging Your Thoughts

Recognising the impact of clutter on your brain highlights the importance of maintaining organised and thoughtfully designed spaces. By creating environments that align with your brain's natural processing abilities, you can reduce stress, conserve mental energy, and enhance overall well-being.

The subject of environmental psychology and the influence of spatial design on our sense of wellbeing is far richer than what can be covered in one article. Please consider this an introduction to the concept of how the Atmosphere affects you.

Future articles will explore specific layout and design principles that support wellbeing, as well as the integration of other senses into your spaces. After all, Total Sensory Wellbeing is what matters most. To learn more, visit Nriched Living and follow Total Sensory Wellbeing on Instagram.

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References:

[1] Moffat, S. D. (2016) 'Spatial cognition and wayfinding', Encyclopedia of Geropsychology, pp. 1–9. Available at: https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-981-287-080-3_212-1.

[2] Saxbe, D. E., and Repetti, R. (2010) 'No place like home: Home tours correlate with daily patterns of mood and cortisol', Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 36(1), pp. 71–81. Available at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0146167209352864.

[3] Van der Jagt, A. P. N., Craig, T., Anable, J., Brewer, M. J., and Pearson, D. G. (2014) 'Unearthing the picturesque: The validity of the preference matrix as a measure of landscape aesthetics', Landscape and Urban Planning, 124, pp. 12–21. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0169204613002375#:~:text=The%20preference%20matrix%20by%20Kaplan,to%20encourage%20adaptive%20habitat%20selection.