Ink to Inner Peace: How Journaling Supports Mental-Wellbeing

Several years ago I was reading through some old childhood journals when I noticed most journal entries involved me writing about being angry or upset. Yet those are not the emotions I associate with my childhood memories. I tend to think more of positive experiences. Growing up my mom strongly encouraged us to journal frequently. In hindsight, this was great parenting (thanks Mom!), but 10-year-old me resented feeling “forced” to journal. Although journaling about emotions such as anger, sadness, and disappointment can be a great way to process them, I realized I wanted to be able to look back on journal entries I made about positive and exciting moments in my life or even just the everyday “mundane” moments.

So, at the end of 2019, I made it a goal for 2020 to journal every. single. day. I placed my journal and a pen next to my bed as a visual cue. I set the intention to journal right before bed. And I decided it didn’t matter whether I wrote 1 sentence or 3 pages. Some days I only wrote a list of the tasks and activities I did for the day. Other days I processed complex emotions I was feeling. But I am proud to say I reached my goal. It became incredibly rewarding to reflect on my day, cathartic to vent about the hard moments, and exciting to write about the people, happenings, and places that made me happy. And because journaling became a rewarding habit, I still continue to journal daily.

It became incredibly rewarding to reflect on my day, cathartic to vent about the hard moments, and exciting to write about the people, happenings, and places that made me happy.

It turns out, the science supports the mental health benefits I observed during my own daily journaling experiment. Keep reading to find how, tips for making it a habit, and prompts to get you started!

Mental Health Benefits of Journaling

1. Helps identify patterns, fears, and priorities in your life.

Rereading the reflections you make about daily life experiences can help you find patterns in your emotions and help you gain insight into what is life-giving and what is draining in your daily routine.
Journaling can also provide a space for problem-solving and decision-making.

2. Reduces stress, improves self-distancing, and decreases emotional reactivity.

Writing your emotions during journaling allows you to express what you’re feeling and helps you create a narrative about your emotions from a distance. This in turn can reduce emotional reactivity and improves emotional processing of events (Park et al., 2016).
When we write, we can explore the cause and effect of events, organize thoughts, and stop ruminations from taking up mental space (Newman, 2020).

3. May ease symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Krpan et al. (2013) found that study participants who engaged in 20 mins of expressive writing for 3 consecutive days saw a significant reduction in depression scores compared to the control group.
These effects lasted even 4 weeks later.
According to a study by Smyth et al. (2018), positive affect journaling for 15 mins 3 days per week for 3 months lead to a significant reduction in mental distress and improved well-being among participants with anxiety compared to their baseline.

4. Can increase gratitude.

Many studies have found a significant link between keeping a gratitude journal and higher levels of happiness and a positive mood.
Gratitude is also known to reduce inflammation, improve sleep, and encourage resilience after trauma.

5. May improve memory.

Through journaling you are spending time engaging with thoughts, feelings, and events, giving your brain more time to encode memories.
Each time you recall a thought or moment you are strengthening the circuit to recall those memories later.
Additionally, Klein & Boals (2001), found that college students who wrote about their thoughts and feelings had an increased working memory compared to those who wrote about unimportant topics.

BONUS: Journaling can even impact your physical health.

After all, your emotional, mental, and physical health are all connected.
Research suggests expressive-writing journaling can improve liver and lung function, decrease blood pressure, and increase immune system function (Baike & Wilhelm, 2005).

Now, I’m not saying you need to journal every day in order to benefit from it. Find a frequency and method that works for you. Many of the studies mentioned above did not involve daily journaling but rather a consistent process. Figure out YOUR motivation for journaling.

Tips to get started and make journaling a habit:

1. Make a visual cue to journal, such as placing your journal next to your bed or setting a reminder on your phone, etc. Get creative!

2. Practice habit stacking by pairing your new journaling habit with a habit you already do daily such as brushing your teeth, making coffee, setting your alarm before bed. Pick a specific time of day to incorporate a journaling habit.

3. Experiment with different forms of journaling. Maybe writing paragraphs isn’t for you. Try making a bullet point list, drawing, recording a voice memo, writing one thing you’re grateful for, typing on a blank document, or try a journaling app.

4. Set a timer for 2 min, 5 min, or 10 min and put away distractions for that time. If you’re on a roll when your timer goes off, great. If not, that’s great too. Stop journaling and feel accomplished that you reached your goal of journaling for x amount of time!

5. Use prompts if you’re unsure what to write about or if you want a more focused journaling session. I’ve got some sample prompts listed below!

Journal Prompts To Get You Started:

1. Write down 3 people, 3 places, and/or 3 activities you are grateful for right now.

2. What makes you feel grounded and why?

3. Describe a time you stepped out of your comfort zone. How did it make you feel? What did you learn about yourself?

4. What feels draining or frustrating in your life right now? What can you do to change this? Pick one small action.

5. Write about what gives you energy. What makes you excited about life? What feels life-giving? Reflect on a time you felt joy. How can you get more of that in your life?

Happy Journaling!

Sources:

Allen, S. (2018). The science of gratitude. Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley. https://ggsc.berkeley.edu/images/uploads/GGSC-JTF_White_Paper-Gratitude-FINAL.pdf?_ga=2.51257770.246418475.1638563377-157927757.1638563377

Baikie, K., & Wilhelm, K. (2005). Emotional and physical benefits of expressive writing. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 11(5), 338-346. doi:10.1192/apt.11.5.338

Klein, K., & Boals, A. (2001). Expressive writing can increase working memory capacity. Journal of experimental psychology. General, 130(3), 520–533. https://doi.org/10.1037//0096-3445.130.3.520

Krpan, K. M., Kross, E., Berman, M. G., Deldin, P. J., Askren, M. K., & Jonides, J. (2013). An everyday activity as a treatment for depression: the benefits of expressive writing for people diagnosed with major depressive disorder. Journal of affective disorders, 150(3), 1148–1151. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2013.05.065

Newman, K. M. (2020, August 18). How journaling can help you in hard times. Greater Good Magazine. https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_journaling_can_help_you_in_hard_times

Smyth, J. M., Johnson, J. A., Auer, B. J., Lehman, E., Talamo, G., & Sciamanna, C. N. (2018). Online Positive Affect Journaling in the Improvement of Mental Distress and Well-Being in General Medical Patients With Elevated Anxiety Symptoms: A Preliminary Randomized Controlled Trial. JMIR mental health, 5(4), e11290. https://doi.org/10.2196/11290

Park, J., Ayduk, Ö., & Kross, E. (2016). Stepping back to move forward: Expressive writing promotes self-distancing. Emotion (Washington, D.C.), 16(3), 349–364. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000121