Taking time to write by hand has been show to improve cognition, creativity, memory and focus – as well as brain elasticity. How writing by hand has changed my mind on journalling.

Buckle up friends, this is a longer one with sources.

I’ve been resistant to hand writing in a physical journal forever. I didn’t like the idea of a physical journal as a kid, and as soon as LiveJournal (or their sister DeadJournal, as I preferred) popped off I was in, sold. I’ve pretty much digitally journaled since like 2007. I love the sharing aspect – which is why I love blogging into the web these days.

I prefer it because I think too fast and I cannot write by hand that fast. But its kinda the point now.

So let me present the amazing benefits to morning pages, with science! I’ve seen morning pages forever, I’ve read productivity book after book talking about it the benefits but it didn’t click until I was looking at the research. I kept hearing today’s kids are struggling to read and write. I had heard Millennials are kinda the last generation that hand wrote things down in schools…and wow, I started immediately after looking at the research and after effects.

Make your kids write too. Seriously.

Handwriting forces cognitive processing

As it turns out, taking notes by hand forces you to process things in your own words – so you both remember them better – and have to think about it as you write it out (aka, go slow cause hands can only go so fast).

To-do list written by hand are so much easier to recall so this makes sense to me. I also remember doing better in classes at college if I was there, and took notes actively. Computer or remote classes were awful for me personally.

Some fantastic research on this:

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0956797614524581 TDLR; Students who took handwritten notes remembered more and understood concepts better than laptop note-takers.

https://www.jowr.org/index.php/jowr/article/view/85 TDLR; Handwriting engages more motor pathways, leading to deeper learning and stronger memory encoding.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnbeh.2021.633294/full TDLR; People who planned using pen and paper remembered information 25% better than those using smartphones or tablets.

Writing boost Creativity

Writing by hand both feels good, but also itches those stationery needs in a productive way. Now you have a use for those pens and notebooks – if you didn’t before. I know I hoard, so I’ve been writing as much as I can by hand each day to help get started with the day.

I am not sure I feel the creative benefit on this as much as I do the others points, but the science is there:

https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2010-18126-001 TDLR; Children wrote more words, faster, and with better idea generation when writing by hand compared to typing. Handwriting boosts creativity and idea generation.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01810/full TDLR; Brain scans show handwriting creates much higher neural activation than typing; especially in areas related to idea formation, imagination, and internal thought.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/26822036 TDLR; Instructors found students produced more original ideas when brainstorming by hand.

Handwriting improved cognition

This is a benefit I saw immediately. When typing, I sometimes get lazy and let it go to trash and will let spell check do its thing later. With handwriting you have to actually think out words. I’ve had to look up words to spell in my morning pages. Those words then stick in your head better as well. Just damn, immediately felt dumb when I had to start looking things up – but it made me remember them better.

Side note here, I remember seeing some people will read a book and just skip words they don’t know. LIKE STRAIGHT over it. Ignore it, not even worry and be like, I’ll just ASSUME or GUESS here. Please look those words up, its nothing to be ashamed of. Make a note if you do this, think of all the new words you could learn in a year.

It makes sense, if you spent some time writing things down more, you really see this and its not something I even thought about.

This was the main reason I started. I was worried I was getting dumber. Constantly. It’s one of the reason I want to read more too. I am always worried I will lose cognitive abilities if I don’t practice them.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691804001968 TDLR; Handwriting practice helps the brain recognize letters better; showing the strong link between motor movement and visual memory.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211949312000157 TDLR; Writing by hand activates multiple brain regions simultaneously—including those involved in thinking, language, and memory.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10648-019-09470-8 TDLR; Handwriting improves comprehension, conceptual understanding, and retention because it pairs movement with cognition.

Emotional Processing & Stress Reduction

Another fantastic reason for ADHD folks – I already had a emotional notebook I carried with me, this new method just adds to that concept. Sometimes I cannot process the feelings immediately, so I write it down to think it through later.

Life happens and I don’t get the option to slow down and process what happened and how it made me feel in the moment, so I tend to go back and work through that.

It helps a lot and I would say I feel so much better about my Alexithymia. I still struggle with internal notifications, but this helps me figure some of those things out. I also struggle with figuring out stressors and again, if I write it down and slowly work around it, I can sometimes figure it out faster.

https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1987-15469-001 TDLR; Writing about emotions for just 15–20 minutes over several days reduced stress, improved immune function and reduced doctor visits.

https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1988-37261-001 TDLR; Handwritten emotional writing led to: Lower physiological stress markers, Improved immune responses, Better mood over time

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/B:COTR.0000045550.12852.68 TDLR; Expressive writing improves emotional processing, helping people regulate emotions more effectively.

Focus & Attention Span

Another ADHD bonus. This also makes sense as you can only write so fast, even if you think over it, so you have to go slower. I can’t tell you the times I’m writing down the pages and I literally get distracted while doing it. It happens, but I try to come back and finish the page. All good things to practice and improve focus on your own as far as exercises.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01810/full (this is a repeat from above on cognition too) TDLR; EEG scans show handwriting requires greater sustained neural engagement than typing.

https://www.intechopen.com/chapters/10971 TDLR; Because handwriting is a tactile, slower, and more physically engaging task, it: Anchors attention, Reduces cognitive drift, Improves mental presence.

Long-Term Brain Health

This is something I feel like my generation is terrified of, I’m a millennial baby – 87. I heard it from my friends all the time, just take them out 💀 when they can’t tell time anymore. I think collectively watching the world around us lose it has made all concerned about our brain health. Particularly the health around our grandparents or parents.

Remember if you stop using it, it stops working. Don’t stop moving, don’t stop learning. That is the biggest thing working in health has taught me.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211949312000157 TDLR; Handwriting activates widespread neural circuits, including those involved in memory, language, attention, and motor coordination. Strengthening these networks increases neural plasticity, a major factor in protecting the brain as it ages.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691804001968 TDLR; Writing by hand builds and reinforces sensorimotor memory loops. These loops help preserve: Cognitive processing, Letter recognition, Visual–motor integration. All of which decline with age unless they stay active.

TLDR; Writing by hand improves the brain

Some other other articles that mention this are below, I don’t normally link to a ton of sources or use science to back up why you should do a planner thing – but this is what makes it click for me.

Scientific American – “Why Writing by Hand Makes Kids Smarter”

The New York Times – “What’s Lost as Handwriting Fades”

BBC – “Why handwriting beats typing”

If a random book on art told you to try morning pages for creativity, you might know the one. Well, I need reasoning. I need the rules and the why, or its bouncing off my head like nothing happened.

It finally made sense to me and now I love it.

Happy planning

Note, if anything on the links or science is off, please correct me.