Writing by hand calms the body and nerves, slows down mental aging, enhances focus, stimulates the brain, eases depression and anxiety, unleashes creativity, combats dyslexia, enhances learning abilities, and encourages brain development.
The technological advances have made things so easy that we can just get everything done on one tap. Rather than writing down notes on paper, students now make use of their laptops and adults too prefer to get their work done on their laptop. While on one side, it has made things so easy, all of it has led to different shifts in our day to day life.
However, it has been proven by a number of studies that writing by hand can be a lot beneficial not only for teenagers but for everyone. In this article, we will be discussing the benefits of writing by hand and how beneficial it is for our brain. Let’s read below to find more:
Writing By Hand Is Good For The Brain: 11 Must-Know Benefits
Calms the body and nerves:
Writing can help you keep more focused. It naturally unfrazzled your brain from all sorts of distractions. Writing also calms your brain down, making it a perfect winding down activity at night.
Slows down mental aging:
Writing is a great way for people to retain their memory as they age. It is because of its abilities to help you remember things and information. As per a study, duplicating shapes also play an important memory role for children with developing minds.
Enhances focus:
When you are typing on a computer, you are more likely to be distracted by tons of things on the internet. If you are really looking forward to taming your short attention span, writing is surely going to be a lot beneficial for you.
Stimulates the brain:
Writing by hand especially in cursive is considered to be loopy and artistic in nature, which is why it taps into both sides of our brain. Although how deeply both sides of our brain are tapped differs from individual to individual. However, when we stimulate either side of the brain with writing, it is considered to be extremely beneficial for problem solving or artistic abilities.
Eases depression and anxiety:
Writing down your thoughts on paper when you are sad or stressed is an amazing way to feel better. When you write by hand, your erratic thoughts get in a calming flow. In fact, you are more likely to process a problem easily when you put it to paper as you connect more to words when you write them down.
Unleashes creativity:
Writing encourages more creativity as it puts you to work more parts of your brain. In fact, there are subtle aspects of writing that are more artistic since each person has his/her own handwriting. This way, it gives us our own identity similar to that of an artist who has their own unique medium.
Encourages brain development:
According to a report in Psychology Today, the brain develops functional specialization that integrates movement control, sensation, and thinking during the course of cursive writing. In fact, it has been shown by brain imaging how engaged our brain is while learning cursive.
Combats dyslexia:
Cursive writing helps in improving brain and memory functions which can further help combat dyslexia. Letters on cursive start on a baseline and the pen/pencil moves smoothly from left to right, it is thus easier to be learned for dyslexic students who have problems forming words correctly.
Enhances learning abilities:
Writing down is one of the best ways to acquire more knowledge mainly because it stimulates a part of the brain called the RAS or the Reticular Activating System. Basically, what RAS does is, prioritizing what requires immediate focus and filtering others out. Writing thus activates this part of the brain to process knowledge into your memory.
Exercising your brain’s hemispheres:
When you practice cursive in your journal, you coordinate the brain’s hemispheres. It is similar to that of working out your muscles so that they grow and strengthen.
Makes you a better writer:
There are many famous authors who opt for writing by hand rather than using a typewriter or computer. As per a study, elementary school students who wrote essays with a pen tend to write faster and complete sentences as compared to their friends who used computers or laptops.
Conclusion:
Considering all the benefits of writing by hand above, it is thus a better option to get back to our pen and paper and start making more use of the same than using our laptops and typewriters do things for us. You must also encourage your little ones in your home to write by their hands so that they get into the habit of making less use of technological things for their homework, notes, etc.
References
- https://www.oxfordlearning.com/writing-by-hand-is-good-for-the-brain/
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/nancyolson/2016/05/15/three-ways-that-writing-with-a-pen-positively-affects-your-brain/#2470acd57055
- https://redbooth.com/blog/handwriting-and-memory
