The Benefits of Writing Down Your Thoughts
Writing down your thoughts is more than just an expressive outlet—it’s a scientifically backed method for improving mental health, cognitive clarity, and emotional regulation.
I’m an Author and somatic movement educator, my clients call me “the nervous system whisperer." I specialise in burnout, anxiety, and trauma-related issues. I am holding a Q&A om Monday 18th at 5 pm for The Soothe Programme send me a YES for the link.
How are you doing? I’m not going to lie, it’s been a week. I have been avoiding US news, the speculatory nature of rolling news messes with my neurons. Instead, I have been jumping on my rebounder first thing in the morning - and whenever I hear things that make my brain melt. I have also been writing a lot, and drawing out lessons with notes scribbled by the stick men. Holding a pen and starting to write has a soothing effect on me, want to know why..?
1. Emotional Regulation: Calming the Amygdala
The amygdala, a part of the brain’s limbic system, is central to processing emotions and triggering the fight-or-flight response. When faced with stress or anxiety, the amygdala often overreacts, leading to heightened emotional intensity.
How Writing Helps: Journalling allows you to externalise and label your emotions—a technique often referred to as "name it to tame it." By articulating feelings on paper, you reduce the amygdala’s hyperactivity. Research suggests that this labelling process decreases emotional intensity, promoting a calmer, more balanced state of mind.
2. Enhanced Memory Retention: Activating Long-Term Memory
The act of writing by hand uniquely engages neural pathways that support memory consolidation.
The Science: Writing manually is slower than typing, forcing your brain to process information more deeply. This action signals to your brain that the information is important, aiding in the transfer of data from short-term to long-term memory. Additionally, when you write about past experiences, you bring those memories into your working memory, integrating them with new insights and facilitating emotional healing.
3. Increased Mindfulness: Slowing the Monkey Mind
The act of handwriting requires deliberate focus, slowing down your thoughts and grounding you in the present moment.
Neuroscience Insight: Handwriting engages multiple sensory inputs: the tactile feel of the pen, the visual experience of seeing your words, and even auditory feedback when using a pencil. This sensory immersion is absorbing, reduces cognitive overload, and helps mitigate intrusive thoughts.
4. Cognitive Clarity: Activating Broca’s Area
Broca’s area, located in the brain’s left hemisphere, is crucial for speech production and articulation. It also plays a significant role in organising thoughts into coherent language.
Impact on Clarity: Writing stimulates this area, helping you articulate ideas and emotions more precisely. Over time, journalling trains your brain to process complex emotions and thoughts, making them easier to navigate in daily life.
5. Creativity and Problem-Solving: Building Neural Connections
Journalling fosters a deeper connection between seemingly unrelated ideas, sparking creativity and insight.
Neural Dynamics: By writing about your thoughts and experiences, you encourage the brain to integrate new information with existing knowledge. This process strengthens synaptic connections between neurons enabling faster problem-solving and innovative thinking.
6. Stress Reduction: A Natural Outlet
Stress activates the brain’s hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, leading to a cascade of stress hormones like cortisol. Chronic stress can impair cognitive function and emotional well-being.
How Journaling Helps: Writing acts as a form of cognitive unloading, giving your brain a space to process and release pent-up stress. Over time, journalling can lower cortisol levels, promoting a more relaxed state.
7. Self-Awareness and Behaviour Patterns
Regular journalling creates a written record of your thoughts, emotions, and experiences, allowing you to identify recurring themes or behavioral patterns.
Scientific Perspective: This reflection engages the brain’s prefrontal cortex, the area responsible for self-awareness and decision-making. By reviewing past entries, you gain insights into habitual thought patterns, helping you make conscious choices and overcome self-sabotaging behaviors.
8. Gratitude and Positivity: Boosting Dopamine
Practicing gratitude through journaling activates the brain’s reward system.
The Role of Dopamine: Writing about things you’re grateful for stimulates dopamine production, a neurotransmitter linked to feelings of happiness and motivation. Over time, this rewiring promotes a more optimistic and resilient mindset.
Tips to Get Started
Carry a book and pen: I use train journeys to write about how I feel and ideas for lessons and projects. For me, writing replaces scrolling.
Gratitude Practice: Write down three things you’re grateful for to remind yourself that no matter how wretched life sometimes feels, you have evidence of good things too.
Free-Flow Writing: Allow your thoughts to spill onto the page without judgement. You can scribble it out if you’ve been wicked.
Reflect and Review: Periodically revisit past entries for self-reflection.
What’s going on?
Somatic Soothe Sunday 17th November at 5 pm ( LA 9 am NY 5pm) - book here The monthly live sessions are FREE to all paid subscribers
Breath to Calm: 30 Days to Soothing Anxiety - 30 days to set you up a self that will, over time, reduce your levels of anxiety and lower your baseline of reactivity. Click to learn more.
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Check out the lessons in my book to soothe your brain and body.
Thank you for reading.
Stay human,
Nahid x
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