8 Surprising Ways Journaling Helps Your Mental Health

As Forbes reported, studies have shown that expressive writing (such as writing in a journal) can improve your memory. In fact, one study found writing about stressful or negative situations reduced intrusive thoughts — which, in turn, improved the memories of study participants. In short, the more cognitive energy your brain expends on stress, the less cognitive energy it has to form memories. Luckily, journaling can help your brain de-stress.

Though writing has long been believed to be an effective way to relieve anxiety and stress, there is now a growing body of research to support that belief: A Michigan State University study conducted in 2017 found journaling reduced feelings of worry — making it a great outlet for people with anxiety, or even just a tendency to overthink.

“Expressive writing makes the mind work less hard on upcoming stressful tasks, which is what worriers often get 'burned out' over, their worried minds working harder and hotter,” Dr. Jason Moser, an associate professor of psychology, and the director of MSU’s Clinical Psychophysiology Lab, said of the study in the press release. “This technique takes the edge off their brains so they can perform the task with a ‘cooler head.’”

TIME reported that a 2013 study found that research participants who were instructed to journal about traumatic experiences — rather than the group that was instructed to avoid writing about their emotions — tended to have an improvement in their sleep. Not to mention, the study also showed participants who journaled had physical wounds that healed quicker.

Keeping a journal specifically focused on expressing gratitude has a ton of mental health benefits. For one, University of California Berkeley's Greater Good Magazine reported a study conducted at the college found gratitude writing can boost your mood, and improve your mental health — even in people who have diagnosed mental health disorder.

A 2013 study published in the Journal of Affective Disorders was the first ever research to show that expressive writing could be used to decrease symptoms of depression in people with major depressive disorder (MDD). As a matter of fact, researchers found that, at the end of the study, people with MDD who were instructed to write had a huge decline in depression scores.

Research from 2017 discovered that keeping a dream journal of some sorts was linked to a surge in creative thinking. Not only can keeping a dream journal help you feel more creative, but it can also provide insight into your subconscious mind. Pretty cool, huh?

Writing your goals down, versus merely listing them off in your head, can actually make a difference in whether or not you achieve them. A study from the Dominican University of California showed people who wrote down their goals achieved more than those who didn't. Further, the people who wrote down their goals and shared them with friends were even more likely to achieve what they had set forth in their writing — compared to those who kept written goals to themselves.

Setting aside personal time to write in a journal may not seem like it pertains to developing leadership skills, but surprisingly, it does: "A practice I have found useful, as have many of my executive education students and coaching clients, is centuries old: keeping a journal," wrote Eric J. McNulty, the Associate Director for the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative, in the magazine strategy + business. "Setting aside as little as ten minutes a day to record your thoughts stimulates reflection critical to making sense of the fast-moving world around you, which is, in turn, essential to effective leadership."

Finding a journaling practice or style that works for you may take some time, but once you find your niche, the benefits of this simple practice are invaluable. So, what are you waiting for? Pick up a pen!