You enter your bathroom. Is it clean and tidy, or cluttered with overflowing products, towels, tubes, and accessories? What you see could well be a reflection of your stress level, a more significant psychological indicator than you might think.
What your home says about your mental health
Scientific research shows that a cluttered environment isn't just visually unpleasant: it biologically influences your body and mental well-being. An article published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin by researchers working with UCLA's Center on Everyday Lives of Families reports that how residents describe their homes—specifically whether they perceive them as "messy" or "restorative"—is associated with different profiles of cortisol, the stress hormone.
Women living in homes perceived as stressful had a flattened, less favorable cortisol profile throughout the day, while those describing their space as restful had a more marked decrease in this hormone: a sign of better stress regulation.
Clutter and the brain: more than just an impression
This phenomenon isn't simply a matter of aesthetics. The brain is constantly processing the visual information around it. When your bathroom (or any room) is cluttered, your attention is constantly being pulled in different directions by visible objects, even subconsciously. This creates cognitive overload that affects concentration, slows decision-making, and can lead to feelings of mental fatigue.
Furthermore, the cumulative effect of these invisible demands contributes to maintaining a state of heightened alertness, which the body translates into a prolonged elevation of cortisol. This is not merely a hypothesis: several sources specializing in behavioral psychology confirm the existence of a link between domestic clutter and higher cortisol levels, particularly in women who, statistically, are less tolerant of stress related to domestic tasks and social expectations.
How your bathroom can help you reduce stress
A minimalist environment doesn't mean living with very few things. It means keeping only what is useful or meaningful: the products you actually use, stored in an organized way, with enough space to breathe visually.
By adopting a minimalist approach in your bathroom:
- you reduce the visual signals that unnecessarily demand attention;
- you reduce the mental load associated with maintenance and tidying;
- and you create a space that invites relaxation, rather than constant stimulation.
In short, this small change of scenery could help you regulate your stress in unexpected ways: less visual chaos, less cortisol, and more mental clarity on a daily basis.
