Journal

Mental Flexibility | 4.13.20 | By Shilo Zeller, BSc. & Thom Mascia, LoveYourBrain Ambassador

This week’s tip comes from one of our LoveYourBrain Ambassadors, Thom! Here, he’ll share his love for writing. You can follow him on Instagram @brainglu, where he highlights humans with TBI and their stories.

Research shows that writing about distressing or traumatic events and how we felt and feel about them is associated with improved health. For when we describe traumatic events, when we tell our stories in our own words, we are no longer repressing our emotions. Writing for as little as 15 minutes a day has been linked to improved immune function, improved emotional and physical health, and positive behavioral changes.

One of the major benefits of expressive writing is disclosure. By avoiding negative thoughts and emotions, this can make our bodies tense, create a negative internal environment, and ultimately, cause impaired cognitive functioning. By addressing our traumatic experiences, we can start to process the experiences we’ve endured.

Another major benefit? Writing is an incredibly useful tool when it comes to dealing with stress. Taking the time to write or type out your feelings and thoughts gives you time to work through a problem or event that is causing you grief. Also, by writing in a way that makes sense and is readable allows you to review everything from a different perspective. When we’re stressed and have internal dialogue about a situation, we tend to have all kinds of different thoughts running through our minds. Writing allows us to take a step back and review the facts. We can then better process the situation at hand. 

Check out Thom’s Instagram page (@brainglu) for some inspiration. Happy writing!