Have you ever seen an old diary of your father or mother? A few decades ago diary was a personal necessity, and usually, people used to keep it for various purposes. For example, the diary a businessman would hold might contain notes and information about business accounting. Similarly, writing a diary was very popular among household women.
They used to write down notes, keep their memories, and some might even write down their secrets in the diary. The trend is less prominent now with the advent of technology. Writing a diary is very uncommon now. If someone really wants to see how diaries were kept, then they might have to put some effort in search of it. You might even find an old diary of one of your parents or grandparents.
Health Benefits
Diary writing might appear like a good hobby to pass the time. One may even find highly customized diaries that show self-expression. However, it has a lot more than just writing down, and it would not be wrong if we call it writing for a purpose as it has many health benefits.
1. Writing Therapy
Many psychologists suggest writing therapy to individuals who are unable to control or manage emotions. Writing a diary might seem old-fashioned, but its benefits are evergreen. Start to write from today, and after a few weeks, see what positive changes you experience in your personality and mental well-being. Indeed, you will find a huge difference.
Writing down your feelings, experience, emotions, and even secrets can help in feeling relieved. It helps to lift the heavy burden of emotions and thoughts from your soul and mind. This makes it a useful therapy to regulate emotions.
2. Stress Management
Uncontrolled and unmanaged stress can have devastating effects on mental, physical, and emotional health. Immense stress results in observable physical symptoms such as high blood pressure, sweating, high pulse rate, and confusion. Moreover, stress also impacts behavioral outcomes such as aggression, depression, excessive drinking, smoking, and drug abuse.
Diary writing is a handy stress management tool. It allows us to channelize emotions and feelings deliberately. However, those who are dealing with severe consequences such as addiction might seek professional assistance. You might even inquire about addiction treatment, and coverage plans to find the right option.
3. Improves Health
Studies have shown that adopting a habit of writing down a diary for 10-15 minutes and for four months significantly helped control blood pressure and improve liver functionality. When a person is easygoing mentally, then the effect is translated over physical health as well.
Writing a diary helps to improve health as it unwinds brains and allows de-stressing. With a more stable mind, the body also enjoys better and improved health. Moreover, it can prove a very vital meditation therapy too.
4. Improves Immune Function
Researchers suggest that when a person writes, the writing gives more structure and organization to stressful and anxious feelings experienced by that person. Writing a diary allows you to suppress negative thoughts and feelings and, in return, improves the body’s immune function.
A person with strong immunity enjoys better health and has a relatively low risk of getting disease and illnesses. Writing is directly linked to reducing the symptoms of asthma and arthritis.
Moreover, it is evident that writing improves liver and lung functioning. It allows to combat diseases better and even helps the wound to heal faster. All of these are signs of strength and better immunity.
5. Keeps Memory Sharp
Writing employs sensory reflexes such as vision and hand movement along with the mind. This has a better impact on the brain and helps in sharpening memory. Furthermore, a regular practice of diary writing helps to boost memory, comprehension and improves cognitive processing.
Writing by hand, in correspondence with visual support, makes the brain process the information in more detail. This helps in keeping the information in memory and safe for later use.
6. Improves Mood
Nothing can work better than diary writing in bringing more sunshine to your routine life. It helps individuals in keeping and sustaining a good mood. Writing down provides a unique and positive opportunity to self-talk.
Moreover, it is a day-to-day task and helps identify problems, concerns, and negative thoughts and suppress them. Thus it does not impact a good mood. This is because writing allows better control over emotions by organizing them.
7. Strengthens Emotional Function
In the short term, diary writing or journaling might help in keeping a good mood. However, if sustained for longer than the long-term benefits results in more emotional stability. Over time, a regular habit of writing helps you in becoming emotionally composed and stable.
This stability and composition in emotions occur when a person has more control over emotions. Writing is an emotional drill that, when done with consistency, helps in making the brain more powerful.
8. Creativity
Research supports this fact, so yes, writing does boost creativity. Actually, when we write, more parts of the brain are engaging, and these parts become active at a time. So it makes the brain more active, and hence more ideas are generated.
For instance, if you are constantly writing down your problems, you will be more likely to generate new ideas to deal with problems. Creativity allows the brain to generate novel ideas that help in improving the present situation.
9. More Self-Awareness
Writing a diary or journaling allows you to spend more time with yourself. Make an analysis of your surroundings, problems, and troubles. It provides a vital opportunity to connect with your own being. A strong connection with your inner self helps you build more self-confidence, self-esteem, and self-awareness.
Greater knowledge of your abilities help you move further, face your problems and get out of any troubling situation. It is very useful.
Take Away
Writing of any type, such as diary writing, is very beneficial as it promotes mental health in a number of ways. Moreover, research has also revealed that writing is also beneficial and promotes bodily health too.
