How keeping and writing a journal can have health benefits.

Let’s face it, we all have those weird perceptions of a journal as being a book that looks vintage and some might be a book that has a lock and key. Hiding away those memories of your first crush or of those feelings of being told off by your parents.

No matter which way we look at it we all have a memory or a perception when it comes to a journal.

A lot of us view a journal as being outdated, or for elderly people who have taken it up as a hobby, but the truth is we should all keep a journal with it having so many benefits.

It’s genuine. Journalling does a lot more than help us remember our past thoughts or express how we are feeling.

It’s so beneficial for our health.

Writing and keeping a journal can help you create good habits that can also be used to control our stress.

Here I share some of the best-recommended benefits to your health by just putting pen to paper.

One.

Reduction in stress levels. Living in a state of stress can almost certainly be crushing to our health, from physical, mental and emotional health.

Research shows that descriptive writing, just the same as journalling for only 15 minutes a day, of a period of four months was sufficient enough to bring down blood pressure and increase liver performance.

Also writing down stressful situations will assist you in balancing those situations. for me, the best time to journal is first thing in the morning and just before bed to help you relax and to clear the mind.

Two.

Enhances Immune System. Consider it or not but strong writing can increase your immunity and lower your chances of becoming ill. For those people who do write and keep a journal, claim improved immune system performance. Reduced signs of asthma and arthritis.

Three.

Preserves sharpness of the memory. Keeping a journal maintains your brain in top-notch condition. Not only does it increase your memory and awareness it can also improve your working memory capacity

Four.

Promotes Good Moods. We all want to be filled with happiness and sunshine and theirs no better way than to do it with writing. An uncommon behaviour outcome of journaling can be a higher emotional feelings of being happy and just generally happy about life.

FIVE.

Grows Emotional functions. As we continue to develop our habit of journalling the gains become long-term, implying that diarists become more in harmony with their well being by uniting with their desires and personal needs.

By writing a journal it extracts and encourages writers to stay in the now while maintaining perspective. It also offers the opportunity for emotional cleansing and promotes the mind to monitor emotions.

Conclusion.

So, there we have five great benefits to your physical health, mental health and emotional health.

Having this information is great but without implementation, it means nothing right? And I totally get it, that you may find yourself starring at the paper sucking on your pen (I still do this now) and having no idea what to write.

Firstly I doesn’t matter, discard any guilt of not doing it as much as you should, or worried about your grammar and spelling, if you have to write one line, do just that take action, and as time goes by if you’re like me you look forward to your daily visit to your journal and you will find that it becomes natural.

The best thing anyone can do is invest in a journal it doesn;t have to be anything fancy, unless you choose to and schedule a time every day to journal. Doing this with pen and paper has more effect than using a screen as pen to paper incites and exercises the brain, unlike a computer screen.

The lesson that can be taken away from here is this, if wanting to become your better self, grow from within and make changes to all sections of your life as well as your health, write about it and wait to see the changes. Writing can change your life.

If you have liked what you have read and its brought you some value, be sure to visit the home of A Course Within where you will find more content on how to personally improve yourself by having a willingness to learn, having an open mind and taking the small actions to have a big impact.

Thanks for reading and stay safe.

Originally published at https://acoursewithin.com on June 6, 2020.