Dostadning: Sweden's 'gentle art' of house cleaning before death

Death cleaning is the name given to the practice of sorting through your personal belongings before your death. Photo: AFP

In her elegant apartment in the centre of Stockholm, 84-year-old Lena Sundgren looks at her crowded bookshelf, lit by the glow of a candle.

Sighing deeply, she lifts up a pile of gardening books and moves them to one side. "The feeling of getting rid of them is a relief," she admits. "This death cleaning, which I do a few times a week, makes me calm."