In your younger years, you may have had a broom pushed at you if you spoke the word “boredom.” Someone may have put a dust cloth into your hand if you said anything about being “worried”. Many believed that boredom might be tied to inactivity and concern that had built up to the degree of “worry” meant that your brain needed something else to work on. Many of our grandparents had an understanding of how well physical activity could alleviate many negative things in our lives like anger, emotional stress, physical aches and pains, and insomnia. Science seems to be proving them to be correct. Research has found a correlation between stress and exercise.
Some Points the Old Timers May Have Missed
It just made sense to our grand-parents that work was a good thing and the end of any work would produce good things. There is always satisfaction in a job well done, right? Being productive is taught as a positive activity. Keeping busy in some way, either physical labor or mental activity is expected of people usually. The argument has been made that the physical act of cleaning is what causes the reduction of stress, however, there is also the possibility that the cleanliness of space helps with the reduction of stress. When our environment is neat and orderly we may appreciate it so much that just being aware of it may reduce stress levels. According to this article from Vice it could be that the act of cleaning puts one in control of their surroundings. That sense of being the one in control may be what causes the reduction of stress levels for some people.
A New Approach to an Old Concept
In middle school, you may have learned in PE that exercise would go through a set pattern when becoming part of your daily life. You may have been told that once a runner became physically accustomed to running, the muscles would stop hurting, and their body would get into better physical shape. They would then begin to enjoy their runs. After a while, they realize that they start needing their runs, and feel bad when they couldn’t run. No matter what the exercise is, there will be a similar pattern that will happen, as your body starts experiencing daily exercise. This Harvard Health article, Exercising to Relax, has much to say on the subject of exercising and anxiety.
Does cleaning your house actually relieve stress? The United States Army recognized a correlation between the two. They take teenagers, put them into a high-stress environment, work them hard physically all day, feed them high protein meals, and give them the sleep their bodies need. It works well for most, allowing them to be able to adjust quickly to major lifestyle changes much easier. Of course, there are other key factors in play for a soldier, but you can’t get much more basic training than diet, exercise, and rest.