Journaling

When we were young, journaling used to be called keeping a diary. Did you have one? Mine was a five-year diary, bound in fake leather, with a lock and key to keep it away from prying eyes. I poured everything into that diary: family life, school, friends, and all the bumps and scrapes along the path to growing up. Who would have guessed that now, more than sixty years later, journaling has been rediscovered as a powerful tool for our aging brains?

Journaling can just be a fun pastime, but it can also offer real benefits to seniors. For example:

• Improving memory. You can use your journal to record and preserve events and activities, and refer back to them later.
• Providing stress relief. Writing about your thoughts and feelings can help you sort them out.
• Creating a routine. Journaling is a pleasant, relaxing activity you can enjoy on a regular basis.
• Strengthening cognitive skills. You can use journaling to research topics of interest to you, build and synthesize evidence, and articulate what you’ve learned and decided.

Should you use pen and paper, or word processing software? Lots of seniors are comfortable with the pleasant, slower rhythm of handwriting, and a notebook they can carry anywhere. If you have trouble using your hands, you might find keyboarding easier. If you are using journaling to record memories, you might prefer to use word processing software, because then everything is easily searchable. Word processing software might also work better if you’re using journaling to strengthen cognitive skills, because it’s easier to edit and reorganize your content. Choose what’s right for you. There really aren’t many rules for journaling. I would suggest just one: keep it private. You don’t want to have to consider what anyone else would think about what you write. This is strictly for you.