Journaling: How This Practice Can Enhance Your Wellness Journey

Journaling is well known as a powerful tool for mental health. Writing your way through your emotions promotes self-reflection and helps you process life experiences, both positive and negative. But have you ever considered incorporating journaling into your personal wellness journey?

Keeping a regular written log can be a transformational practice for any health goal, whether it’s reaching a fitness target, achieving a healthier weight, adjusting your eating habits, or becoming more mindful. There’s power in the written word! Here’s how to use journaling to support both mental and physical health.

Understanding the Power of Journaling

Mental health practitioners have long recommended various forms of journaling for different goals. Free-form stream of consciousness writing, journaling with prompts, and simply recording the events of your day all have their benefits.

In recent years, journaling became something of a trend, with products like guided journals and journaling apps popping up for purchase. Social media has also fueled the journaling fire as influencers share their personal experiences with the practice.

The great thing about journaling? It can be tailored to just about any individual preference or goal—for both mental and physical health. All you need to get started is pen and paper. Within the wellness community, more and more people are clueing into its possibilities for overall wellbeing.

Emotional and Mental Wellbeing Benefits of Journaling

There’s plenty of research to support the use of journaling as a therapeutic tool for mental and emotional health. A 2018 study found that journaling could help mitigate mental distress, lower anxiety, improve well-being, and improve physical functioning. Researchers even noted that the practice could contribute to behavior changes and increase openness to seeking support. Other research has linked journaling to better management of mental illness.

There are several likely reasons why journaling has such beneficial effects on mental health. Writing down your thoughts and feelings can provide emotional release as you transfer them from your brain onto paper. Plus, reviewing your thoughts in written form is a type of healthy self-reflection.

“Journaling supports a healthy mind by facilitating mindfulness, as it requires intentional, reflective thought,” says Satya Jonnalagadda, Ph.D., MBA, RDN, vice president of scientific and clinical affairs for the health and wellness program Optavia. “Making the choice to spend time writing down your thoughts and feelings ignites the reflective system of the brain—the slow-thinking, conscious, and effortful side.”

Journaling for Self-Discovery and Personal Growth

Couldn't we all use a bit more insight into our motivations and values? Journaling without self-censoring allows us to get to the heart of what drives us.

“Intentional journaling can help you mentally map your journey, starting with the most important step: your ‘why,’" says Jonnalagadda.

When we better understand our reasons for doing things (or not doing them), we can take steps toward meaningful change. In fact, once you’ve identified your personal “whys,” journaling can even be a vehicle for making change. In written form, you can set your intentions, track your progress, recognize patterns, and offer yourself verbal encouragement.

Enhancing Physical Wellness Through Journaling

Shifting the self-reflective focus of journaling from mental to physical health is a more natural transition than you might think. The mind and body are, after all, inextricably connected.

Some ways to use journaling as a support to a physical wellness program include tracking your fitness routines, logging and reflecting on your daily food choices, looking for patterns in your sleep, and monitoring any changes to your thoughts and feelings about these areas of health. Keeping written tabs on your own journey can actually fuel your success.

“My team recently conducted a study to understand the habits of successful weight loss maintainers and found that most of those who were successful reported using self-regulation strategies, such as self-monitoring,” says Jonnalgadda.

Plus, writing down your wellness goals may make you more likely to reach them. Research from Dominican University found that people who put their goals down on paper were significantly more likely to achieve them.

Journaling Techniques and Prompts for Wellness

The best technique for wellness journaling is entirely up to you. You can experiment with a wide variety of approaches to find your favorite. Consider the following options:

• Gratitude journaling, where you list a certain number of things you’re thankful for each day
• Recording the efforts you made each day toward making your wellness goals a reality
• Stream of consciousness writing, in which you journal without stopping for a pre-set time about whatever comes to mind
• Writing in the third person, telling your own story of ups and downs
• Writing with prompts

The key is to choose the one that intrigues you the most or you feel will help you reach your goals. Or, you can experiment with all the methods until you settle on which method you enjoy most and can stick with.

Tips for Turning Journaling into Daily Practice

Getting started with a journaling routine doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, it’s as simple as putting pen to paper. Try these tips for making journaling a regular practice:

• Set aside a brief time each day for writing.
• Start small at just 10 minutes per day. 
• Use journaling prompts to get your creative juices flowing.
• Select a comfortable and inspiring place to write, such as a special chair, outdoor hammock, or your bed.
• Tie journaling to another healthy habit you already practice. For example, brushing your teeth at night could be your cue to sit down and hash through your day in your journal.

Staying consistent is key to seeing maximum benefits from journaling—but don’t be surprised if roadblocks pop up that keep you from daily writing. If you’re feeling writer’s block, consider guided journaling or prompts that give you direction. Or if self-judgment is hampering your self-expression, remember that there’s no right or wrong way to journal.

Bottom Line

Journaling isn’t just a nice way to unwind—it can offer major benefits for mental, physical, and emotional health. Maintaining a writing habit offers a way to set (and keep) wellness goals, reflect on your personal values and progress, identify and overcome barriers, and more.

Any foray into this practice is highly personal, so take it at your own pace and use any style of writing or prompts you find helpful. The more you incorporate journaling as a support for your wellness goals, the more successful you may become.