Have you ever kept a diary? A notebook? A journal, perhaps? Whether you’ve had a log like this in the past or not, you still may not be aware of some of the many benefits of journaling for your mental health.

In addition to the surface-level advantage of being able to keep better track of life’s roller coasters and document current experiences to be looked back on for years to come, journaling can help keep a clear and organized mind. According to Journal.cloud, “Your brain is likely to store information that you have written down in your diary. Your brain will make stronger connections with the information you have learnt after you write them down in a diary, making it easier for you to recall in the future too!” Journaling and recording thoughts and ideas helps to keep them present in the mind, and it eventually aids when expressing these concepts in the future, as mentioned in the quote above.

This concept of maintaining your thoughts and organizing your mind connects to another one of journaling’s advantages. Writing in a journal is a practical way to cope with anxiety and other mental struggles. When experiencing anxiety, humans tend to become focused on the stressful situations that may feel inescapable at the time. To help prevent this occurrence, many individuals practice mindfulness, and journaling is a great way to accomplish this: “As journaling habits are developed, benefits become long-term, meaning that diarists become more in tune with their health by connecting with inner needs and desires. Journaling evokes mindfulness and helps the writer remain present while keeping perspective… It presents an opportunity for emotional catharsis and helps the brain regulate emotions” (Intermountain Healthcare). Along with this, it has also been proven that journaling helps to improve immune function, memory retention, and general mood.

Not only does keeping a journal prove to be an upstanding way to organize and document one’s life, it has practical health benefits that prove helpful to individuals of all ages.

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