Why cleaning calms nerves - research

"Put simply, anxiety and stress lead to a decreased feeling of control." Photo / Thinkstock

Ever rearrange your bookshelf or clean obsessively to calm your nerves?

New research shows people commonly engage in ritualised behaviour to deal with decreased feeling of control.

The research carried out by Victoria University postdoctoral researcher Dr John Shaver, in collaboration with professors from America and the Czech Republic, got one group of test participants to prepare a speech for an art expert about a particular sculpture.

They, along with a second group who didn't have to prepare a speech, then had to clean the sculpture.

The researchers found the group given the "high stress task" of preparing a speech cleaned the sculpture with more repetition and "rigidity" - emphasis on a particular aspect of cleaning.

"Redundancy" - the time spent cleaning, along with any unnecessary cleaning actions - didn't differ between the groups, however.

Dr Shaver said the findings appeared to follow other research which showed individuals experiencing anxiety from a complex, uncontrollable or unpredictable task could enter a kind of chaos in the mind stemming from uncertainty about the future.

"Put simply, anxiety and stress lead to a decreased feeling of control," he said.

"To cope with this instability, ritualised behaviour is enacted - [that is], repetitive and predictable actions that aim to increase the feeling of environmental certainty."

The group's hand-movements were monitored using advanced motion-capture technology.

The researchers also collected data from the participants on their perceived anxiety levels, and the difference in their heart rates before and during the cleaning task.

"Repetitiveness and rigidity could be predicted from both heart-rate and the participants' self-perceived anxiety," Dr Shavers said. "However, redundancy could be only mildly attributed to the latter."

It is hoped the research will help better understand conditions such as obsessive-compulsive disorder and autism, as well as more-complex ritualised behaviours, such as those performed by gamblers, athletes, or participants of religious ceremonies.

The research was published in the prestigious academic journal Current Biology.