A regular journaling practice has a whole host of benefits, but did you know you can actually write your way to better health? New studies are shining a light on how exploring your inner world through writing can lead to real improvements in your physical health.

Impact on stress

In modern day life, nobody is a stranger to numbing their feelings. When you’re feeling stressed, upset or angry, it’s easy to ignore it with a quick scroll on social media, or binge watching your favourite series. Sound familiar?

Unfortunately, the more feelings are buried, the more power they have and can eventually bubble up in ugly ways such as chronic stress. This type of long-term stress can lead to serious health issues, such as lowered immune function and heart problems. This is where journaling comes in.

By spending five to ten minutes processing your emotions, you can acknowledge and accept painful feelings, allowing you to release them and move on in a healthy way. If it sounds a lot like mindfulness meditation, that’s because it’s similar in many ways.

Journaling tip: Get started with Halo today.

Boosted Immunity

Reducing chronic stress through journaling has been demonstrated time and again to be an immune system booster, even reducing healing time for wounds.

Other researched journaling benefits include:

• Lowered blood pressure
• Lowered cortisol (stress hormone) levels
• A potential lessening of asthma symptoms
• It may reduce the severity of rheumatoid arthritis
• It can improve memory and recall

Reap the Benefits

How often?

As long as you’re consistent, journaling once or twice a week for a short time is enough to reap the physical health benefits of journaling - as long as you pay attention to the content of your journal.

What should I write?

The journaling technique that has proved most effective for your health is expressive writing. This means an emotion-focused entry that allows you to reflect, typically on difficult experiences in your life. Halo’s guided entries such as Accepting The Present and Savoring can help you process emotions and relish the moment to wind down from stress.

Get started today

Whether it’s anxiety, grief, stress or heartbreak, taking the time to process difficult emotions gives your body permission to feel, and then let go. This process of allowing yourself to feel and let go is part of a healthy emotional purge.

Discover the health benefits of journaling for yourself! Download Halo for free to get started.