The Benefits of Creating a Journaling Routine

Medically reviewed by Melissa Nieves, LND, RD

As a child, you may have kept a secret diary recording what happened daily, various milestone events, or your innermost thoughts. Journaling as a therapeutic activity is different than keeping a diary. Instead of recording events, journaling is a way to express and process your thoughts and emotions around specific events.

Some benefits of journaling include managing stress, anxiety, and depression. A journaling practice can help you cope with difficult moments in life or long-term emotional patterns.

In this article, learn more about journaling, including the benefits of journaling and how to start or maintain a journaling practice.

Benefits: What Does Journaling Help?

There is a growing body of research on the benefits of journaling. Over recent decades, it has become clear that many different groups can benefit from this practice.

Some benefits of journaling include the following:

• Treating depression symptoms: Research shows that journaling, particularly expressive writing, effectively reduces depression symptoms.

• Treating anxiety symptoms: Journaling also effectively reduces anxiety symptoms, specifically positive affect journaling, which focuses on positive emotions.

• Reducing stress: Certain forms of journaling can reduce stress symptoms. One study of 66 registered nurses found that burnout and compassion fatigue rates significantly decreased after six 2.5-hour journaling class sessions.

• Reducing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms: Many studies have shown that therapy protocols combined with narrative writing (where you write about personally traumatic events) effectively reduce PTSD symptoms.

• Improving self-distance: Self-distancing is our ability to reflect on past events and emotions as an objective observer. Through self-distancing, you experience less emotional reactivity and fewer physical distress symptoms. Longitudinal studies show that journaling increases self-distancing.

How to Journal (and Keep Up With Journaling)

Are you wondering how to start journaling? Journaling looks different for everyone. There are many different styles and forms of journaling, ranging from how and what you write about to whether you use a notebook and pen or a computer.

There's no "right way" to journal. Choose a technique that feels natural and that you can do consistently. Below are some tips on how to start journaling and how to build and maintain a journaling routine.

1. Prioritize Convenience

Keep a notebook and pen conveniently located to ensure that the ritual is front of mind. Alternatively, use a note-writing or private journaling app on your phone, so the option to journal is always handy.

Handwritten vs. Digital Journaling

Journaling does not have to be handwritten. It is OK to journal digitally. Consider using a journaling app like Penzu, Day One, Five Minute Journal, or others.

2. Just Write

If you're wondering how to start journaling, try not to think too hard. There is no right or wrong thing to write about - just write! Some strategies to get you journaling include:

• Set a timer for 1 minute, and write for the entire minute. Increase the time every few days.

• Use the "free writing" technique by writing in a stream-of-consciousness style and not lifting the pen from the paper for the entire allotted time.

• If nothing is coming to mind to write about, then write about how it makes you feel that nothing is coming to mind.

• Try not to edit your words or be too critical about how you're writing. Focus on just writing.

3. Use Prompts

If you feel "writer's block" or are stuck for inspiration to start writing, you may benefit from using prompts to help guide your journaling.

There are many ways to find journaling prompts. You can use the example journal prompts provided further in this article. Alternatively, various email newsletters, blogs, and books offer journaling ideas. You could also write your own journaling prompts to use later.

4. Maintain a Routine

You may feel stress relief and other benefits after just one journaling session, but the benefits will grow as you journal. Think of it like a new lifestyle habit, and try to make journaling part of your daily or weekly routine.

5. Use Habit Stacking

Making journaling part of your routine is easier said than done. One way to make this easier is with "habit stacking."

The goal of habit stacking is to help you add new healthy habits to your daily routine in a gradual and achievable way. You do this by "stacking" your new habit onto an existing part of your routine.

Think of habits already part of your daily routine, and try to journal directly before or after them. For example, most people brush their teeth every morning. Keep your journal and pen by your toothbrush, and immediately after you brush your teeth every morning, dedicate 10 minutes to journaling. Soon, it will feel natural!

What is the Best Time of Day to Journal?

There is no ideal time of day to journal. The best time is what works for you and that you can do regularly. Many people like to start or end their day with journaling. A morning journaling session could help you get your thoughts out and feel fresh for the day ahead, whereas a nighttime journaling session could help you process your day and clear your head for sleep.

6. Keep Going

Sometimes, journaling can bring up difficult emotions or irritation before you start feeling any benefits. In many cases, this is a normal phase, and it's essential to work through this. Try to keep going with your journaling as you build up this new habit.

Consider consulting with a mental health provider if negative emotions affect your daily life or last for weeks or longer.

Journaling Prompts to Spark Ideas

Many people like to use journaling prompts to help them structure their journaling or to help address challenging topics, events, or emotions that they might otherwise avoid.

Here are some prompts to consider:

• What are three things you're grateful for, and why?

• What were the best and worst parts of your day?

• Describe something you love about yourself and something you're working on.

• Using all five senses, write about where you are right now.

• Write about your first childhood memory that comes to mind.

• What is something that you've kept secret from most people?

• Write about something you regret in your life and why.

• Write a letter to your childhood self or yourself ten years from now.

• How do you feel right now, emotionally? Name and describe five emotions you felt today and why you felt them.

• Write about a challenging past event that still affects you today.

• Describe your dream day, including where you are, who you're with, what you're doing, and how you feel.

• What are the traits you value most in other people? Yourself?

• What are the five things you are most afraid of?

• Describe a moment when you felt courageous.

• Name three things that drain your energy and three things that give you energy, and why you think this is.

• Write three goals you have for the future, why you chose them, and how you plan to get there.

Types of Journaling Styles

There are various journaling styles, though you do not have to adhere to any specific type; the critical part is simply writing.

Researchers need frameworks to organize their data, so scientific literature about journaling typically mentions specific types. Below is a list of the main journaling styles and their associated research.

Expressive Writing

Expressive writing is one of the most researched journaling styles, in which a person writes deeply and meaningfully about a past troubling event. In a study that compared an expressive writing group to a group that wrote about non-emotional daily events, the expressive writing group had an immediate and significant decrease in depressive symptoms that lasted four weeks after the journaling.

Positive Affect Journaling (PAJ)

This type of journaling was developed from expressive writing but adjusted using the tenets of positive psychology. In PAJ, you are instructed to write about positive aspects of yourself, your life, and past experiences and encouraged to create positive meaning from previous events.

In one study of 70 adults with elevated anxiety symptoms, participants were assigned to PAJ or standard care. The PAJ group showed increased well-being, decreased mental distress, depression symptoms, and anxiety symptoms, and increased resilience.

Three-Minute Mental Makeover (3MM)

A Chicago-area children's hospital developed the 3MM journaling style for a series of studies. Participants were instructed to journal on three specific prompts:

1. Write about three things you are grateful for

2. Write the story of your life in six words

3. Write three wishes you have

In the first study, patients, family members, and healthcare providers reported reduced stress after the 3MM intervention, and 88% of patients and families said journaling was helpful.

The 3MM technique may also have long-term benefits. In a follow-up study 12 to 18 months later, 85% agreed that journaling had been helpful, and 59% reported still using writing to cope with stress compared to only 38% before the study.

Narrative Writing

This form of journaling uses a repeated recounting of a traumatic event. There is a growing body of research on narrative writing for PTSD, which shows it may be beneficial, although higher-quality studies are needed to validate the preliminary evidence.

Interactive Journaling

A health professional guides this form of journaling, often used in mental health and substance use treatment settings. It is a structured form of reflective journaling in which the person is motivated to make positive changes in target life areas.

How Not to Journal: Your Practice Is Your Own

Every person's journaling practice is unique, and there is no right or wrong way to do it.

If you are starting a journaling practice, you may find that your emotions may get worse before they get better. This usually happens when writing about a past traumatic event, like with expressive writing journaling. If you experience any lasting negative response from journaling, consider adjusting your journaling style or consult a mental health professional.

Determining your goals with journaling and finding a routine that works for you is up to you.

Summary

Therapeutic journaling is the consistent practice of writing to process your emotions and feelings about yourself, relationships, and life events. Journaling has many health benefits, including decreased stress, anxiety, and depression, reduced PTSD symptoms, and improved ability to self-distance and process emotions. There are various styles of journaling. Ultimately, the "best" style is the one you can do consistently and offers personal benefits.