Clutter and too many open tabs can lead to burnout. Psychologist: “Activate the survival brain”

In a world where we are bombarded with information from all sides, with our brains constantly connected to the multitude of daily tasks, we risk easily slipping into mental clutter. From here to burnout can be just one step, especially if we are also surrounded by physical clutter and if we are used to working with dozens of windows and tabs open on the computer. Without realizing it, we end up drained of energy.

In the absence of rigorous mental hygiene, practiced daily, the disorder in which we live can affect both our physical and emotional health, as well as our productivity, draws the attention of a Romanian psychologist from Norway.

“When we live in disorder, our brain has to work harder to make a separation between relevant information and irrelevant information, and this leads to an increase in cognitive load. Basically, in a disordered environment, the brain works harder, it is more tired, because it interprets all those stimuli that exist in disorder”, says Alina Sletten, clinical psychologist in Norway, within Unicare.

Specifically, objects left at random around the house or office overload the brain, according to a study conducted by Yale University in 2024. According to researchers, we tend to scan, even subconsciously, everything that is in our immediate vicinity. Even the efficiency with which neurons pass their information to each other in the prefrontal cortex is affected if we live or work in a cluttered environment.

But the negative effect on the brain is not only related to clutter, but also to multitasking.

Why we feel overwhelmed by multitasking

The main mental function affected by lack of order is attention.

“Without it, we cannot concentrate, we cannot use ourselves effectively working memory. Attention does not work while the brain is still analyzing. The more it has to analyze, the faster it gets tired, because it needs to channel more energy to process the information. That's why it's not good to be engaged in several work tasks, for example”, says Alina Sletten.

The problem, in this case, is related to residual attention. This occurs when a person does multitaskingthat is, it moves from one activity to another without completing the first one. In the specialized literature, the Zeigarnik effect was described as early as 1927, according to which our mind tends to retain interrupted tasks better than completed ones.

“The brain thinks it's in danger and you end up feeling overwhelmed. For example, you start writing an email, then stop to work on a presentation. Even if you feel like you're not thinking about that unfinished email, the worry that you haven't finished it is there. So it's good if we do multitaskingto constantly note the stage in which we are left with a certain task, in order to give the brain a conclusion”, adds Alina Sletten.

The stress hormone and worries that are always there

According to the psychologist, digital clutter also has effects on mental and physical health, they being correlated.

“At the office, the clutter has moved from the physical environment, when we were surrounded by a lot of papers, to the digital environment, when we have many tabs open. It would be preferable not to work with more than two or three, otherwise we risk activating the survival brain. Even if a person has the impression that he works very well with dozens of tabs open on the computer, the level of cortisol, the stress hormone, can increase and endanger, over time, the state of health. Worries they are always there”, says the psychologist.

Even people who are constantly interrupted can end up in mental disorder. “If you are constantly in demand and haven't completed your tasks, you automatically worry subconsciously. If, for example, you fail to be efficient at work, you become anxious and start to worry about the fact that you are no longer productive. And, with that, you end up in burnout,” says Alina Sletten.

How cortisol fluctuations affect health has been studied by researchers at the University of California. They followed 30 middle-class American families, comparing households perceived as messy to tidy ones. The study involved collecting data through face-to-face interviews, video recordings, and taking saliva samples to measure cortisol levels for a week. The results showed that people who lived in clutter tended to become anxious or even depressed towards the end of the day. Conversely, those who lived in tidy homes had a positive state of mind.

What is certain is that while clutter affects both men's and women's moods, the latter are more disturbed by objects left haphazardly, highlights a more recent study, from 2026, conducted within the Australian Institute for Family Studies. The explanation, according to the research, is that women feel responsible for keeping the house clean, invest more time in raising children and associate a messy house with an unsuitable and unsafe space for the little ones.

Mental Hygiene: How Boundaries and Routines Help Us

The key is to disconnect from the survival brain, which activates the fight, flight or freeze mechanism.

“Mental hygiene requires not overstimulating the nervous system. It is good to set limits and have routines. If, for example, we work from home, it is important to have a quiet corner or a balcony where we can do a breathing exercise. It is necessary to take breaks during the day, to hydrate properly, but also to spend 20 minutes, in the first 90 minutes after waking up, in natural light. It can also be a short walk in the park, the essential thing is not to be connect to the phone during this interval. Studies show that walks in nature stimulate both brain hemispheres, which helps us balance stress,” explains the psychologist.

The specialist works with her clients using the Neuromind Reset method, which has three steps: reset, reorganize, rebuild.

Specifically, resetting involves re-orienting your brain into survival mode with the help of breathing exercises. The second step, reorganization, involves making order out of disorder by keeping a quiet, clean corner to retreat to when you feel the need. The third step is reconstruction. “Practically, gradually build habits that support better mental hygiene and take care of yourself”, concludes Alina Sletten.