According to research published in Social Psychological and Personality Science, doing things like washing your hands and cleaning your house can go a long way toward lessening the psychological effects of stressful events. The new findings provide some scientific evidence that this is linked to reduced anxiety symptoms.
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4 cleaning habits you need to break to be happier
It is important to be careful not to turn the habits into a compulsive disorder, as you would just replace the problem in order to get rid of it. Keep reading this article and learn how cleaning can alleviate your crises.
About the study carried out
A total of 1,150 adults were recruited by scientists who had them watch a short video of a woman who was terrified to be standing on the edge of a bungee jump. The video had already been shown to induce apprehension, tension and discomfort in viewers.
Then, participants were randomly assigned to watch a video, which could be about:
- How to properly wash your hands;
- How to draw a circle;
- How to peel an egg.
The result for streamed videos
As a result, those who watched the images of hands being washed were more likely to report lower levels of anxiety than those who watched the other two videos.
The researchers repeated their findings in a second study, now involving 1,377 people. However, they noted that the handwashing video included an autotouch aspect.
A new experiment to complete the study
The scientists performed a third experiment with 465 participants where the three videos were swapped for tasks that used mental imagery to clarify this potential for confusion.
After watching the anxiety inducer, guests were randomly assigned to imagine the following three situations:
- That your arms, face, neck and hair are thoroughly cleansed with water;
- That you are touching your arms, face, neck and hair to feel yourself;
- They were not instructed to imagine anything.
It was found that, unlike other possibilities, anxiety levels tended to be lower among those who imagined cleaning. This finding supports the initial hypothesis.
Conclusions
Researchers have come to the conclusion that when we engage in a cleansing action, it is always about removing waste from our bodies. As a result, this fundamental physical experience of removing the “dirt” from the skin can trigger a psychological type of separation.
In other words, this would all be causing a sensation in the mind of separating the residual influence of past experiences from the present. If previous experiences were stressful, psychologically separating them from your present will reduce the stress level.
