Why Am I So Tired Pt. 3 Environment (physical)
Simply saying, "environment," is like trying to describe every drop of water in the ocean. However, I'm going to try and limit to these two categories: physical environment & emotional environment. We will have to address emotional environment is part 4.
Let's break down physical environment even more into these sub categories: Physical living conditions such as clutter, filth, allergies, & air quality.
Clutter:
I'm sure many of you have heard the saying, "cluttered house, cluttered mind." Having ADHD I'm predisposed to what decluttering guru Dana K. White calls "clutter blindness." This means that I don't notice when my home gets out-of-control messy. Not to say it's unsanitary, just that sweatshirts and shoes trickle down the stairs and toys are strewn around the house. I come from generations of maximalist living. I blame my depression baby grandparents, because back then everything was hard to come by, so they held onto EVERYTHING and anything that could have been useful. Now, I'm reaping the consequences of that mindset by trying to declutter my stuff, my parent's stuff and my grandparent's stuff. I wont go into decluttering detail, but if you have a brain like mine Dana K. White's A Slob Comes Clean books, podcasts and blog have really, truly, seriously changed my life for the better. The has an easy step decluttering method that is so black and white even this brain of mine can't deny it's effectiveness.
When surrounded by piles of stuff that you are surrounded by reminders of things that have not yet been accomplished, this is shown to lead to a decreased satisfaction with one's life. Not only that, but the visual cues, and sometimes smelly cues, overwhelm our brain, & stress us out. Not to mention, have you ever gotten stressed out because you can't find something and start tearing through your house to find it? Or you step on a particularly painful toy that was hidden underneath some clothes int he walkway? Or tripped over one of your piles? Or had a crap-alanch? Don't you think all of these things are stressful? What happens when you get chronically stressed? Your adrenal system pumps out cortisol (the stress hormone), over time your adrenals get worn out and you get sick, sick sick. Ever had a really stressful year and you kept getting sick over and over again? chock it up to the adrenal system.
Clutter can decrease your ability to make decisions, and we all know that we make millions of decisions everyday both minuscule and large. Being surrounded by disorganization makes it harder for the brain to focus. Clutter and kick knacks attract and make it more difficult to clean and dust, and let's face it, in these modern times who has extra time to dust shelves and shelves of knick knacks? An accumulation of dust and other particles like allergens can increase allergic, asthmatic and autoimmune responses.
Clutter has a huge impact on social interactions. Have you ever had to stand outside in a snowstorm to talk to your neighbor who "just popped by" because you were too embarrassed of your clutter to let them in? Me, me, me, me. So guilty of this! By having a cluttered space not only are you physically attacking yourself, you are also isolating yourself. I used to have to host a weekly girls night just to have a reason to tidy my house and do a deep clean, it kept me accountable. Now I don't have to do that, but if I start slipping in my mess I schedule something where people have to come over to my house and before you know it, my house is clutter free! Before we move on, I just want to remind you of Dana K. White's A Slob Comes Clean, trust me, her no mess decluttering method is the best out there!
Filth
Ok, this one is a hard one because it's so personal and embarrassing, but come one, we have to talk about it. Germs. Filth. Disgust. Don't you just wish we had the robot maid from The Jetson's? Oh I do. Anyone have a little boy? What does the toilet look like? A Jackson Pollock painting? Yep. Does anyone have pets? How much do they shed? Soooo much. I have 2 dogs and 2 cats, there is fur everywhere! Let's face it, I would love to have the ability to brush my dogs and cats every day, but you know what is simpler? Vacuuming. Do I enjoy vacuuming? N-O! No, no, no, no! In fact I don't enjoy any housework at all. zip, nada, nilch. However, vacuuming is the lesser of two evils, well actually five evils: vacuuming vs brushing all four pets, I'd rather vacuum.
Would I love it if my son remembered to aim every time he went to the bathroom? Yep. Would I love to not have to remind him to get the lysol wipes and clean up after himself? Yep. Would I love if my Great Pyrenees didn't shed, you betcha! Would i love it if the dishes magically made it into the dishwasher without me having to lift a finger? A dream come true. As much as technology has advanced, unfortunately, unless I somehow can afford one of those Japanese bathrooms that seals itself off and power washes and dries itself, I have to clean the bathrooms. I have to wash the dishes, I have to do the laundry, I have to mop, I have to scrub the peanut butter handprints off of the light switches and door knobs. Unfortunately I have not met a robot vacuum that can keep up with my four pets, and trust me I've tried 4 different kinds, one ranging in the $2500 range that guaranteed it would not clog with pet hair. I am the one that has to teach my kids how to do all these things alongside me, no one else is going to do it.
So, where does this leave me? Well, like a broken record I go back to Dana K. White's "A Slob Comes Clean." Her no mess decluttering method is my rock I hold onto in hard times. Also, Dr. Tara Swart's "The Source." Let's start at the source: neuroplasticity. Change is hard! Forming new brain connections and increasing their myelination thickness is literal WORK! It my feel impossible at first but keep trying and failing and trying again, think of the little engine that could! Now to "A Slob Comes Clean:" Just do your dishes. You don't have to build Rome in a day and conquer the nations, just do your dishes. Even an old ass dishwasher only takes a couple gallons of water to clean the dishes, so everyday load the dishwasher and START IT!!! Don't wait for it to fill, just start it, do yourself that favor!
I would also like to modify Dana's step of "take it there now" and say, "wipe it off now." I started doing this in my own life of wiping off the counters, sink and toilet in my bathroom when I'm done brushing my teeth. I use charcoal toothpaste which leaves a gray residue on the sink when I get done brushing. I wash it down, but I noticed there were little gray flecks around the top of the sink. Normally I wouldn't think twice about these little flecks, until after a week the accumulation of twice a day brushing for a week left an obvious eww of flecks on the sink. So I decided that every time I saw a fleck I would grab a lysol wipe and wipe the sink down. I always start off by thinking I'll wipe the sink down, but then I just kinda keep going because now the sink is clean, but there are also a few specks on the counter, so I wipe the counter off. I should probable wipe the toilet off too since I'm wiping things off, yep, good thinking, that definitely needed to be done. Well, how about wiping off the shower real quick? (Please note that I live in an 1800 sq ft home, so I can clean it all just in a few steps).
Instead of waiting till the bathroom get’s to the eww factor, I just use a wipe real quick & my hyperfocus leads the rest of the way. A couple of things to consider here are that if you are uncomfortable using wipes, use what you are comfortable with like a solution and cloth that stay in your bathroom at all times (except when you wash the cloth). The second is that this does not replace your weekly, monthly, whenever you think about it, deep cleaning, but this will help keep your bathroom from getting disgusting.
Use this “just wipe it up now” concept going throughout the rest of your day. Something spills on the floor, wipe it up, but also get a wet rag and mop up the area real quick with your foot. When I do this I end up continuing until the rag can’t take anymore and goes in the dirty rag pile. At the end of the day I take the dirty rags and put them in the washing machine instead of letting them rot and mildew in a pile until its laundry day. When I do get out the real mop, why not mop the walls and cupboards also? I don’t like going around the walls, baseboards and cupboards with a little cloth on my hands and knees, so I just mop them, easy peasy, but please, use a sanitary solution just to be safe.
This all sounds well and good, but if you are like me it may not be that simple. If you are like me and have a really hard time with executive functioning make it fun or mindless. Fun: music, podcast, audio mystery novel in your earbuds, or a TV show. Mindless: empty your brain. No thinking required. Practice meditative techniques and empty your brain. I use this one a lot when I’m really not feeling motivated and nothing “fun” will help. I just completely empty my brain, turn it off, stop all conscious thinking and grab the spray and rag or vacuum and start. Another FANTASTIC tip is to set a timer. I believe I have spoken in the past about timers and how 5 & 10 minutes works wonders for my brain, I will set a timer for 10 minutes and vacuum. When the timer is up, even if I’m not done vacuuming, I stop. If I really need to clean the house I will stop vacuuming (or whatever I’m doing) after 10 minutes and switch to something else. This helps decrease burnout that people like me are so accustomed to. When we hyper focus on one thing for too long it burns us out and we stop abruptly. Switching activities or chores every 10 minutes keeps me from getting bored or burnt out and at least gets most of the cleaning done, instead of only the vacuuming. I’ll get most of the vacuuming done, most of the kitchen, most of the bathrooms, most of the laundry, most of the yard work, most of the…everything. My philosophies are:
Good enough is good enough.
Part of everything done is better than only one thing done perfectly & everything else left in chaos.
Air Quality
I live in an area that is notorious for it's poor air quality, high pollutants, high allergens, high dust, inversion, & a funnel for smoke from neighboring state's wildfires. Trust me when I say that air quality is a massive factor in health. Lungs breath in the toxins, but also skin absorbs them. That being said, I'm sure you've heard that in our homes the air quality is 3x worse than it is outside, even in polluted areas. What can we do about this to improve our health and decrease our fatigue? If, like me, you are unable to move for various reasons to a city or state with better air quality there are things that can be done that are fairly simple:
- reduce clutter in your home to allow to to dust and vacuum more regularly.
- change the filter on your furnace every month, is this overkill? I don't think it is.
- clean out your air ducts and returns every year.
- put air purifiers in bedrooms.
- wash your sheets and blankets every week.
- Change your laundry detergent to scent free and hypoallergenic.
- Use less laundry detergent, on average we tend to use 3-4x the amount of detergent necessary which leaves a film on our clothes that our skin absorbs.
- Cut it out with the laundry softeners and fresheners, just use some white vinegar in your wash cycle.
- Stop using all those "air fresheners" they are actually poison in the long run and pollute your home air with harmful chemicals. This includes candles, most candles and smoke from candles leave a residue in the air.
- If you have allergies, treat your allergies. There are many homeopathic ways of treating pollen allergies like using local honey in your tea and various supplements to boost your immune system so your immune response to allergens decrease. Or you can go the more direct way and get tested for allergies and go through immunotherapy by having allergy shots done weekly or ask you ENT Dr. for allergy drops that go under your tongue. I have done all of the above with varied results, its a personal choice and one you should consider with your primary physician.
- If you are not allergic to them, get plants that filter pollution out of the air such as cypress, aloe vera, queen fern, rubber tree, snake plant, weeping fig, bamboo palm, peace lily, etc. I must add this disclosure to be mindful of your in home gardening as to take precautions against mold growth. Plants need water, water spills, water grows mold, mold wreaks havoc on health.
These are a few things that you can implement slowly over time to improve the air quality of your home. Please refrain from going all hyper focus on it and buying out your local store of all air purifiers and house plants and then getting upset because air purifiers require replacement filters and house plants take work and die. Go slow, start with one thing and see how you like it for a month before going to the next suggestion. Do your research and see what is right for you, remember all individuals are I-N-D-I-V-I-D-U-A-L-S, aka, everyone is unique, so find what works for you.
Thank you all for this beautiful day and the opportunity to write to you! Please comment below on what you do to better your fatigue and improve your environment! Love Ya!
