9 Proven Ways Journaling Can Improve Your Health and Well-Being
Journaling on a regular basis can lead to improved performance, health and overall success.
Scientists across the last 5 decades can back it up. The below are 9 proven benefits of journaling brought to you by the scientific method.
What’ll you find across these studies is that for many of the problems we are confronted with in this world, the solution sits much closer than you might think.
The solution lies within.
According to scientific studies, Journaling on a daily basis has a material and measurably positive affect on your:
1. Emotional Regulation and Stress Reduction:
Expressive writing in journals has been linked to reduced stress levels (Pennebaker & Beall, 1986).
This test was focused on the therapeutic benefits of emotional disclosure through the means of expressive journaling. In this study, college students were divided into a test and control group. The test group addressed past traumatic or distressing events while the control group wrote over trivial topics. Participants who wrote about their deeper emotions reported 1) Improved Mood, 2) Reduced psychological distress, and even reported fewer visits to the student health center over the following months.
2. Improved Immune Function:
Engaging in regular journaling aids can lead to improvements in immune system functioning and overall health. (Baikie & Wilhelm, 2005).
This study was set up similarly to #1, but the different outcomes were measured.
The findings indicated that participants who engaged in expressive writing over their deeper emotional experiences experienced significant improvements in immune system functioning, measured by increased CD4+ lymphocyte count. This type of immune cell is vital for maintaining strong immune responses. Additionally, the test group reported fewer visits to the doctors for illnesses over the coming months. Another older study that reached similar conclusions over expressive writing was (Smyth et al., 1999).
3. Enhancing Creativity:
Creative journaling fosters innovative thinking and idea generation (Runco and Smith, 1992)
100 college students completed a creativity test and a journaling questionnaire. The creativity test measured the participants’ divergent thinking skills, which are essential for creativity. The journaling questionnaire asked the participants about their journaling habits and their thoughts and feelings about journaling.
The researchers found that the participants who journaled more frequently scored higher on the creativity test. They also found that the participants who had more positive attitudes towards journaling scored higher on the creativity test.
4. Goal Setting and Achievement:
Journaling about personal goals enhances motivation and progress towards achieving them. (Duckworth and Hull, 2016)
In 2016 at the University of Texas at Austin a study was conducted by researchers Angela Duckworth and Patrick Hull studying the effects of journaling on self-esteem and goal attainment.
The study participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups: a journaling group or a control group. The journaling group was instructed to write for 15 minutes a day for 10 weeks about their goals, their progress towards those goals, and their thoughts and feelings about their goals. The control group was not given any instructions about journaling.
At the end of the study, the researchers found that the journaling group had significantly higher self-esteem than the control group. They also found that the journaling group was more likely to achieve their goal. This is likely due to the heightened self-awareness and planning that journaling facilitates. Also see Sin and Lyubomirsky (2009) study for similar conclusion.
5. Coping with Health Challenges:
Keeping a journal can help individuals coping with health challenges, by reducing symptoms and improving quality of life (Frattaroli, 2006).
A study by Frattaroli (2006) found that patients who engaged in expressive writing reported reduced symptoms and improved overall quality of life using experimental disclosure.
The meta-analysis included 146 randomized studies with over 10,000 participants. The results showed that experimental disclosure had a small but significant positive effect on a variety of outcomes, including:
- Reduced symptoms of depression and anxiety
- Increased self-esteem
- Improved immune function
- Reduced blood pressure
- Increased pain tolerance
6. Mindfulness and Self-Reflection:
Self-reflective journaling encourages mindfulness, self-awareness, and personal growth (Brown & Ryan, 2003).
Journaling encourages mindfulness and self-reflection, which can lead to better self-awareness and personal growth.
The study used a variety of methods to measure mindfulness and well-being. These included self-report questionnaires, laboratory tasks, and physiological measures.
The results showed that mindfulness was positively correlated with well-being, even after controlling for other factors, such as personality traits and coping style.
Results were published in the “Journal of Personality and Social Psychology” in 2003.
7. Communication Skills:
Maintaining a journal can improve writing and communication skills (White, 2015)
The study examined the effects of journaling on self-awareness, emotion regulation, and interpersonal communication. Journaling is a type of writing that involves writing about personal experiences and thoughts and feelings.
8. Academic Performance:
Reflective journaling can lead to better critical thinking skills and academic achievement in college students (Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991).
Journaling can also enhance academic performance. A study by Pascarella and Terenzini (1991) found that college students who engaged in reflective journaling exhibited greater critical thinking skills and overall academic achievement.
9. Long-Term Psychological Benefits:
Consistent journaling contributes to long-term mental health improvement, enhanced psychological well-being, and better coping skills (King, 2001).
Regular journaling has been associated with long-term psychological benefits. Research by King (2001) demonstrated that consistent journaling was linked to improved overall mental health, increased psychological well-being, and enhanced coping skills.
Please note — like all things, no one study is perfect and without limitations and external variables, further exploration of these examples is encouraged independently of this article.
If you want to take the final push, once and for all, and gain greater control over your mind and clarity towards a strategic vision, join the waitlist for our new journal and community here.
What is Strategy Atlas? Founded by a Goldman Sachs Strategy Analyst who has seen first hand the battles in balancing and creating a truly meaningful life- we are small in size but large in impact, providing materials and community for overachievers to start leveling up in what really matters.
Learn more @ Strategyatlas.us
