Turns out we shouldn't feel guilty if about not keeping up with, or even getting around to starting, a personal journal.
According to scientists in the United Kingdom who have studied the issue, people who regularly keep a diary suffer from headaches, sleeplessness, digestive problems and even feeling awkward in social situations. The findings of this study challenges assumptions that people find it easier to get over a traumatic event if they write about it.
We expected diary keepers to have some benefit, or be the same, but they were the worst off,” says Elaine Duncan of the Glasgow Caledonian University. “In fact, you’re probably much better off if you don’t write anything at all,” she adds.
Although she does not have proof, Duncan speculates that diarists buck the usual trend because instead of a single, cathartic outpouring to offload trauma, diarists continually churn over their misfortunes and so never get over them. “It’s probably better not to get caught in a ruminative, repetitive cycle,” she says. But she acknowledges that her experiment could not demonstrate which came first - the diary writing or the health problems.
So if writing things down affects our health, what does it say about us bloggers?
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