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Mahesan Subramaniam: Why Messy Spaces Impact Women’s Stress Levels More Than Men’s

Mahesan Subramaniam/LinkedIn

Mar 16, 2026, 14:27

Mahesan Subramaniam: Why Messy Spaces Impact Women’s Stress Levels More Than Men’s

Mahesan Subramaniam, Co-Founder of United Health Tourism, shared a post on LinkedIn:

”The primary psychological reason for this stronger response amongst women is the mental load-the invisible labor of noticing, planning, and managing household tasks. For many women, a pile of laundry or dirty dishes in the sink is not just ‘clutter’, the brain interprets it as a ‘silent to-do list’ of unfinished work. This concept also suggests women view objects in terms of the actions they require (e.g. seeing a table and thinking ‘it needs to be wiped’), whereas men may perceive the object more neutrally.

Additionally, societal norms place a higher burden on women to maintain a clean home, leading to a fear of judgment. Research shows that visitors often judge a messy room more harshly if they believe a woman lives there compared to a man. While messy men may even be stereotyped as ‘lazy’, they often face fewer social consequences. Women, conversely, are socialized to feel a messy home is a personal failure or reflection of their moral worth.

Regardless of the true mechanism, the fact that clutter can actually increase cortisol is alarming.

Chronic elevated cortisol is one of the ‘easiest’ ways to disrupt hormones, cause anxiety, depression, weight gain, insatiable cravings, low libido, headaches, brain fog, chronic pain and, if left unchecked long enough, can even cause an autoimmune condition.”

Mahesan Subramaniam: Why Messy Spaces Impact Women’s Stress Levels More Than Men’s