Selma Smith

Article Critique #1

How Does Your Physical Environment Affect You and Your Mental Health? Published

by Newport Institute is an article about how if the area that you are in and around most often is

one that is chaotic or messy or not what is deemed uplifting can have lasting consequences on

not oly your mental health but a wide array of other areas of your life aswell. The article

discusses cortisol levels in relation to stress and how a cluttered environment can raise your

cortisol levels. When your in an environment for elongated periods of time you no longer notice

the harmful parts of it like paperwork and laundry on surfaces or even just begin to forget about

it. The article cites studies about clutter affecting the executive functioning and decline in

productivity in women when surrounded by clutter. It caused them to procrastinate and feel

emotionally exaused. The studies also find a correlation between clutter and poor diet choices,

bad decision making, like online shopping sprees/posting not great things on the internet, and

even discouragement of connection with others. The article ends with tips on how to tidy and

maintain your environment to improve your overall emotional wellbeing.

I really enjoyed this article because it helped me to reaslize why i currently am the way i

am, ive always lived in a very chaotic and cluttered household, and have grappled with mental

health issues and focus issues, So it helped me feel a bit less crazy. The article was short and had

a time estimation of 6 mins of reading, which is super helpful to know what kind of article your

getting into. I think that the article was easily readable while referencing complicated topics and

studies in a way that that made the topic less of a looming dread and more of a fixable situation

that can be tackled and resolved relatively easily. The article also had a list of citations at the end

for anything referenced in it.