7 Health Benefits Of Journaling
Journaling is the act of writing down your thoughts, feelings, insights, and so on. It can be written, illustrated, or typed. Journaling can be done on paper or electronically. It’s a simple and inexpensive way to improve your overall health. Here are some of the health advantages of journaling.
Helps lower stress
Not all stress is dangerous, but it can make you sick if it is long-term, unrelenting, and unmanaged. It can also affect your mental well-being. Journaling can help you reduce stress and its effects on your body and mind. A study found that writing for 15 to 20 minutes three to five times per week for four months reduced blood pressure, improved liver function, and resulted in fewer stress-related doctor visits.
Improves immune function
Expressive writing can boost your immunity and reduce your chances of getting sick. Journaling improves immune system functioning (it strengthens immune cells!) as well as reduces symptoms of asthma and rheumatoid arthritis. Expressive writing can improve liver and lung function and combat certain diseases; it has even been reported to aid in the healing of the wounded.
Creates awareness
Writing down your thoughts on a difficult situation can help you better understand it. The act of placing an experience into words and structure helps in developing new perspectives on events.
Reduces depression symptoms
Depression is a mood disorder that causes a variety of severe and long-lasting feelings such as sadness, boredom, and negative thoughts. This medical condition can make it difficult to manage life and daily tasks. Journaling may aid in the reduction of depressive symptoms. In a 2013 study, people with major depressive disorder were asked to write expressively for 20 minutes about their deepest thoughts and feelings about a significant emotional problem in their lives. After three days of writing, they had fewer symptoms of depression compared to those who wrote about the mundane events of the day.
Improves memory
Journaling, according to research, can free up cognitive resources for other necessary mental processes by allowing you to cope with stress more effectively. A small study, including students, found that writing about their deepest thoughts and feelings about going to college improved their short-term memory, which was linked to higher GPAs immediately after the experiment and the following semester.
Reduces anxiety
It can help you feel less anxious. Journaling about your feelings tends to lower levels of mental distress. Researchers discovered that people with various medical conditions and anxiety who wrote online for 15 minutes three days a week for 12 weeks had increased feelings of well-being and fewer anxiety symptoms after one month. Throughout the 12 weeks of journaling, their mental health improved.
Strengthens emotional functions
Journaling promotes mindfulness and assists writers in remaining present while retaining perspective. It allows for emotional release and aids the brain in emotion regulation, and it also boosts one’s confidence and sense of self-identity. According to research, expressive writing can even help people develop more structured, adaptive, and integrated schemes about themselves, others, and the world. Furthermore, journaling activates and engages right-brained creativity, allowing you to access your full brainpower.
