3 Ways to Welcome Positive Vibes on National Clean Your Desk Day

National Clean Your Desk Day is a day to tidy up your office desk! After all, there's tons of research that working in a clean space is good for you.

"National Clean Your Desk Day’s all about preparing your workspace for the new year and beginning things on the right note," according to National Today. "The holiday falls on the second Monday in January. This year, it’s January 14. Remember, a messy desk is an invitation to chaos! A clean desk, on the other hand, helps you focus, be more productive and generally makes you feel good about your workspace. And when we say clean we don’t just mean physical clutter. That’s correct, your computer desktop counts, too. Drag those files into a nice, neat folder!"

National Clean Your Desk Day is a relatively new national holiday, though the research behind the benefits of cleaning up your desk dates back.

"A cluttered home or workspace can overwhelm you, and when you’re overwhelmed, you can become fatigued and have a hard time focusing," according to Meritage Medical Network. "That means there’s a good chance you’re working slower than you could.If you organize all that clutter, it can’t overwhelm you anymore. This will allow you to get your work or household chores done faster, which will leave you with extra time at the end of the day. When you don’t have to spend an hour looking for your keys or that important document, you can spend more time relaxing or doing other things that matter."

Likewise, you'll have less stress. As people who live in cluttered homes, for example, tend to be more depressed than those who live in organized homes. They also tend to be more fatigued and have higher levels of cortisol, which is the body's stress hormone.

"It’s hard to feel restful and relaxed in a cluttered home; by keeping your space clean and organized, you can lower the level of cortisol in your body, and, the lower the cortisol, the less stress you feel," according to Meritage Medical Network. "As soon as that clutter is cleared out, you’ll start to feel more relaxed."

In fact, feeling decluttered can really help give you clarity in more ways than one. You'll have a clearer mind, too.

"It’s hard to make big decisions when your mind is distracted by dirty laundry on the couch or general clutter piled up in the mudroom; you might not even realize these things are distracting you until you organize your home," according to Meritage Medical Network. "When everything around you is neat and clean, you might find yourself with more clarity of mind. Living in a clean environment can give you a clean mind. This will help you focus on tasks at hand and make important decisions with more confidence."

Beyond just feeling organized and relaxed, however, studies show that cleaning up can have seriously beneficial psychological effects that can roll over to physical effects. Some studies suggest that people who are more organized, for example, are more likely to make healthier diet decisions. And, because being unorganized can make you lose sleep, which can affect how you treat your body (i.e. make poorer diet decisions, lose motivation, feel too fatigued to work out, etc.) being organized can help you sleep better and, in turn, help to improve your overall lifestyle.