Over the past few years mental health awareness has spiked with people online being more open about it. Though there are many healthy ways to cope, one of the most popular has been journaling,
People have been using different social media platforms to bring more awareness to mental health. Sharing different things that could be beneficial to others has become more common. The rise in talking about mental health has made it more normalized, so people feel less embarrassed opening up.
Journaling has been scientifically proven to decrease mental distress and has been shown to be 68% effective. It has also been proven to help understand your emotions and regulate them, as well as to recognize your own fears and concerns.
Some of the many benefits of journaling are managing anxiety, reducing stress, and coping with depression. It can help you identify the problem and figure out a solution to fix the problem.
It can also help with just getting things off your chest. Journaling can be used as a method to vent. Writing down your emotions will help you not bottle them up and make it easier to deal with anything going on in life. It’s a good way to get any feelings out if you don’t feel like you can confide in anyone else.
Reducing stress has already been demonstrated through journaling, but recent studies are showing that it can help with physical health. It has been shown to boost your immune system and even reduce time for healing wounds.
People who participated in a study reported that journaling lowered their blood pressure, improved their lung and liver function, spent less time in hospitals, and potentially lessened asthma symptoms.
As long as journaling is done consistently, once or twice a week for about a month the benefits, both mental and physical, should start to show. Journaling takes time and needs to become a habit for it to work, so it helps to have a set time to write and repeat that schedule.
The most effective journaling technique for improving health is expressive writing. This is a more emotion-based approach that makes you reflect on difficult life experiences. It allows you to slow down and process your emotions to wind down from stress.
Journaling can create a sense of being free. You can allow yourself to be yourself and not be concerned about anything. It can warp your perception of time and space because you are so focused on the activity.
Journaling is incredibly beneficial for both the mind and body. It allows you to process events you’ve experienced, which helps you to view them in a positive light, as well as empowering you and bringing healing and insight to move forward.
