Everyone gets so focused on clearing literal things from their space, yet they often forget about what they can’t see. Living in a place that is cluttered with stress is like the show “Hoarders,” but with emotions. Worse, it’s like a shag carpet covering up hardwood floors.

Living with stress does more than fill your space with negative energy. Left unchecked, it can cause the portion of your brain that’s responsible for triggering the fight, flight, or freeze reaction to become overactive. Banish stress from your space and watch these seven things happen.

Here are 7 benefits of having a stress free home:

stress free home

1. You will find energy you didn’t know you had 

Stress might seem like something you can’t see, but that’s not true. You can find signs of it all around your place, and in your body. People who live in stressful places are usually tired. They wake up tired. One of the reasons for this is the amygdala. The amygdala triggers your brain to produce cortisol. If you live under constant stress, your brain will eventually stop producing the right balance of hormones. This can trigger depression and exhaustion. When you live in a stress free home, you create a reprieve from stress. It’s a chance for your body to reset and recharge.

2. Everything will be cleaner 

It might be a function of the increased energy you’ll gain, or it might be because people who live in stress free home are naturally more organized. The reason why isn’t clear. What is clear is when you eliminate stress from your space, you’ll clean more. Did you know that living in a clean, clutter free space reduces stress? You clean your place, and you feel less stressed. You feel less stressed, so you have more energy. Since you have enough energy, you clean your place. Just like that, you’re living in a stress free home.

3. You’ll be more social 

Clearing your place of stress does more than just relax you. Remember those hormones mentioned before, the ones that your brain won’t produce if they encounter too much stress? Oxytocin is included in that list. A brain without the proper chemicals will become depressed and start to isolate. When you cleanse your place of stress, you help your brain restore its normal function. It will start producing oxytocin again. The NIH reports an increase in oxytocin can kick start your desire to be social again.

4. You will find time you didn’t know you had 

Stress causes you to focus on things you can’t control, or can’t change. Living without stress in your place will allow you to focus on the things you really care about. You will suddenly have time to meditate, practice yoga, and maybe paint your nails. There are a lot of possibilities hidden in that time. Push the stress from your space, and try and find some of that time.

5. Your self care will increase 

Just like stress causes you to focus on things you can’t change, and zaps your energy, it steals your desire to take care of yourself. Coming home to stress can blind you of what really needs to be done. It can become increasingly difficult to take time for yourself if you are caught in a cycle of negative thoughts caused by stress.

stress free home

6. Your inner Pablo Picasso will come out 

Okay, so maybe you won’t be selling million-dollar art pieces any time soon. Still, eliminating stress from you place has a tendency to increase a person’s creativity. You could argue that it’s because reducing stress increases energy, or helps people manage their time more effectively. There’s no way to know for sure, but one school of thought is that creative people focus their stress into their art.

7. You’ll want to stay home 

Get rid of stress, and you’ll get rid of your desire to leave your place. That’s not to say you’ll become a hermit. You’ll just find more pleasure in staying in than you did before you exorcised the stress. All the benefits of existing in a stress free home will add up. Your space could become a temple to relaxation. And why would you leave a temple of relaxation?

Closing Thoughts

Clean your space of stress, and start soaking up the benefits. In addition to the numerous physical and mental health benefits of living in a stress free space, you could gain a newfound desire to be social, a return to creativity, and an inexplicable desire to organize and clean. More than anything, you may find happiness hidden beneath all of that stress.