How Writing About Life Experiences Can Improve Health and Well-Being for Young Adults

What is it about?

Our study was the first to compare two common ways people write about meaningful events in their lives and explore how each one affects physical health using wearable devices, as well as the effects on mental health and well-being. We found that young adults who used the turning point approach, writing about an event as a moment that led to change, reported fewer symptoms of depression six weeks later than those who did not use a guided writing method. This approach also helped reduce stress more effectively than both the control condition and the expressive writing method. We also looked at the kinds of words young adults used in their writing. Using more insight-related words (such as words that reflect thinking and understanding) was linked to better physical health, while using more causal language (words that describe cause-and-effect relationships) was connected to better mental health. Yet, positive tone was linked to poorer sleep, and longer narratives were linked to fewer physical symptoms but shorter sleep and lower well-being.

Featured Image

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Although many studies over the past 30 years have shown that both turning point and expressive writing can be helpful, our study directly compared the two.

Perspectives