- Joined
- Oct 11, 2005
- Messages
- 6,698
- Reaction score
- 1,539
- Location
- The City Different
- Website
- www.chrisjohnsonmd.com
I ran across this fascinating article in a psychology journal about how using language, especially language that describes complex ideas and emotions, is associated with better mental health. Really—writing is good for your brain! It also is good for your body. From the article:
“Among people who write about emotional topics, certain word categories reliably predict subsequent improvements in mental health. For example, individuals who use an increasing number of words suggesting causal thinking and self-reflection have visited physicians for illness at lower rates . . . than those who do not use these word categories.”
There are many other interesting things in the article, among which is the observation, based on an analysis of authors spanning the past 500 years, that aging writers become more positive in their outlook. Again from the article:
“. . . with increasing age, individuals use more positive and fewer negative words, use fewer self-references, use more future tense and fewer past-tense verbs, and demonstrate a general pattern of increasing cognitive complexity.”
This intrigues me because recent research with animal models of Alzheimer’s Disease suggests that the more an older person encounters complex situations, the longer they keep mentally sharp. So the brain really is kind of like a muscle; the more you use it, the stronger it gets, and using abstract language is an important part of that. (This was in last week’s New England Journal of Medicine, but unfortunately you need a subscription to read it online.)
So the more you write, the more spry your brain stays. Food for thought indeed.
“Among people who write about emotional topics, certain word categories reliably predict subsequent improvements in mental health. For example, individuals who use an increasing number of words suggesting causal thinking and self-reflection have visited physicians for illness at lower rates . . . than those who do not use these word categories.”
There are many other interesting things in the article, among which is the observation, based on an analysis of authors spanning the past 500 years, that aging writers become more positive in their outlook. Again from the article:
“. . . with increasing age, individuals use more positive and fewer negative words, use fewer self-references, use more future tense and fewer past-tense verbs, and demonstrate a general pattern of increasing cognitive complexity.”
This intrigues me because recent research with animal models of Alzheimer’s Disease suggests that the more an older person encounters complex situations, the longer they keep mentally sharp. So the brain really is kind of like a muscle; the more you use it, the stronger it gets, and using abstract language is an important part of that. (This was in last week’s New England Journal of Medicine, but unfortunately you need a subscription to read it online.)
So the more you write, the more spry your brain stays. Food for thought indeed.