10 Anxiety Triggers That Are Hidden Around Your Home

While it may sound surprising, letting your pet in your bed can influence your well-being. While your home is supposed to be the calmest place on Earth, there are some interior details and daily routines that can make you feel worried. From your bathroom to your living room — every room can easily have an unnoticeable detail that might slowly affect you without you even noticing it.

Bright Side carefully inspected every room and we can’t wait to share our findings with you!

1. Waking up to alarm sounds

A sudden noise that wakes you up in the morning can trigger your body to produce high levels of adrenaline. And if this keeps happening every day for a long time, it can lead to anxiety. On the contrary, waking up using light is way healthier for you. So you might consider replacing your alarm with a silent one, that imitates bright daylight and gradually wakes you up without stressing your body out.

2. Putting a scale in your bathroom

There is even a special term for the fear of your bathroom scale — gravitophobia. When you see it daily, you can even develop a scale addiction, meaning you constantly weigh yourself. Later on, this habit can turn into an unpleasant stressed out feeling. To calm yourself, you can hide your scales and make sure you only use them once a week or month to track your weight.

3. Looking at yourself for too long

Researchers from one study invited people who were diagnosed with body dysmorphic disorder to participate in an experiment and experience the effects of gazing in the mirror. They found out at the end of the experiment that the observed group started showing signs of stress after staring at their reflection for too long.

If you already find that you focus on various body flaws and notice that you’re constantly checking your reflection in the mirror, you can still prevent yourself from stressing out. For example, you can replace your bigger mirror with smaller alternatives that aren’t as tempting to gaze into.

4. Letting your pets sleep with you

Many of us can’t resist letting our pets into bed with us, though there can be more cons than pros when it comes to doing this. Not only can being so close to their fur lead to allergies and make you sick, but they can seriously disrupt your sleep. Not getting enough rest is linked to increased irritability, raised stress levels, and many other negative health consequences. In this case, it’s better to get a separate bed for your furry best friend.

5. Not paying attention to the temperature

Extreme cold or hot weather can affect our mood, but the right temperature indoors is just as important for our mental state. When it’s too cold or hot around us we can feel demotivated, stressed out, and even aggressive. The ideal room temperature that boosts productivity and is favorable to our well-being is shown to be 77°F (25°C).

6. Collecting memories in one place

Creating a separate spot for all of your family or friends’ photos might not be a good idea because this visual clutter can overstimulate your brain. As a result, a photo gallery can disturb your focus, make it hard to relax, and even lead to stress. In this case, it’s better to put photos in separate frames and place them in different spots around your home.

7. Using the wrong lights for your bedroom

LED lights should not be installed in your bedroom because they radiate a significant amount of blue light. This can disturb your sleep and keep you restless at night, which is linked to increased anxiety and many more psychological and physical problems. It’s better to opt for options that produce warm dimmed light.

8. Choosing the wrong wall color

There’s a connection between the color green and heightened creative thinking, so this color can be a good choice for home offices and studios. Red can charge you with energy, and violet is associated with sophistication. However, colors like yellow or purple can trigger anxiety and negative feelings. Also, excessive amounts of white in your rooms can contribute to uneasy feelings.

9. Storing processed foods in your fridge

Sausage, salami, canned meat, deep-fried foods, refined cereals, candy, pastries, and high-fat dairy products are considered processed foods. Not only can they cause various physical problems, but they can also influence our mental state in the form of anxiety and depression. That’s why, if you can, try to switch to a cleaner alternative that you cooked yourself.

10. Relaxing by watching television

Watching television might seem like a relaxing evening activity to many, however, it can be linked to anxiety in many ways. For example, some shows, like the news, thrillers, or criminal documentaries, can trigger anxiety. Moreover, sitting in one position for a long time keeps your body inactive, which can lead to stress and fatigue. If you want to calm down after work, you can try to take a relaxing bath with salt or do mild yoga.

Do you find yourself having or doing any of the things listed above? Let’s have a discussion in the comment section!