The Psychological Benefits of Writing By hand
It is fascinating how much manually manipulating letters can affect how our brain works
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The first article I ever published online took me more than two weeks to write, and it is only a thousand words. I had a newbie syndrome, sure, but what made the work linger that long wasn’t my quest to produce a masterpiece. What really happened was that I wrote, edit, re-edit, and rewrote the whole piece by hand, before committing to transfer it to my computer.
On the first of this year’s July, a long time after this notable episode, I came across a question on Quora asking whether I would prefer a paper (and a pen, of course) or a computer for writing. That was when I realized that I had since fled the tiresome process of writing by hand, committed to completely using my laptop, and as opposed to when I began my writing career.
It is just easier to write and edit with my computer; most people will say the same. And while we love that luxury, I later gathered that we are missing out on so much by abandoning to write by hand. Below are my findings.
It slows mental aging
Everyone wants to look fit as they age. But when it comes to our minds, we often forget that, with time, our brain grows old and weak too.
BBC once reported a study published in Neurology Journals, which proved that writing by hand — letters to our loved ones or journaling in our diaries — can help protect the brain in old age.
“When comparing old handwritten patient diaries and new ones typed on the keyboard, we see a big difference in the ability to articulate their thoughts,” observed the neuroscientist Mürali Doraiswamy, a professor at Duke University. “Today, when many people change their seats at the computer,” advised the professor, “handwriting training can be a useful exercise to keep your mind sharp.”
The writing process involves various parts of the brain, and writing by your hand from time to time will mean extra work out for this delicate, complex organ. This exercise will keep your brain younger, as working out makes you look… well, how you want to look when you work out.
It helps organize your thoughts
Organized thoughts neighbors an improved mood, and writing notes by hand gives you a chance to analyze and organize your thoughts.
The therapist Natalie Rogers mentioned, in an article about expressive art therapy, that the process of writing down thoughts on paper reduces their severity. “When using the arts for self-healing or therapeutic purposes,” she wrote, “we are not concerned about the beauty of the visual art, the grammar and style of the writing, or the harmonic flow of the song. We use the arts to let go, to express, and to release.”
I can assuredly attest to this. What I do to change my emotional state whenever I feel down involved unique writing exercises I developed over the years. These exercises are usually by hand and, needless to say, always leave me smiling and satisfied.
It improves memory
Several kinds of research showed that writing by hand improves your memory. In one of these, Pam Mueller and Daniel Oppenheimer founded that students who took notes on laptops performed worse on conceptual questions than students who took notes longhand.
What caused the difference in the memory retention of these students is simple. When you write things out by hand, you create a relation between the information you’re recording to how you record it — the movement of the pen or how you shape out each letter, for instance. “You make more movements because each letter has its own set of elements,” noted the psychologist Virginia Berninger.
These subtle cues you mindlessly create as you write by hand makes it easier for you to recall information later when the need arises. And continually engaging the part of the brain necessary for this exercise will only make you sharper at retaining stored information longer, and remembering it faster.
It fires up creativity
Published in 2010, a study by Indiana University showed that the act of writing by hand unleashes potential creativity not easily accessed in any other way.
Karin Harman James, an assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience at the university (who led the study), marveled at this art of writing by hand. “It seems there is something really important about manually manipulating and drawing out two-dimensional things we see all the time,” he said.
Nancy Olson of Forbes magazine, when writing of how Fitzgerald, Hemingway, J.K. Rowling, and countless others chose pen — even as they could access either a typewriter or, later, a computer — says:
“This is perhaps the true magic of a pen: It transports us to unexpected places, on wings that require no more than a timely shot of ink to keep them aloft, destination unknown. And in the process, the mindfulness writing engenders encourages calm and creativity.”
Creativity fosters when your brain develops. And brains develop only when they are exercised.
It helps combat learning disabilities
Dyslexia, a learning disorder characterized by difficulty reading, can be combated through writing by hand.
Deborah Spear, an academic therapist, told The Washington Post that cursive writing is an integral part of her work with students who have dyslexia. “Because all letters in cursive start on a base line, and because the pen moves fluidly from left to right, cursive is easier to learn for dyslexic students who have trouble forming words correctly.”
Dysgraphia, another learning disability characterized by problems with writing, can also be treated using therapeutic activities that include holding a pencil or pen in several new ways to make writing easier.
It helps you to better stay focus
Writing by hand eliminates distractions inherent in the writing process. By forcing us to slow down, we are also forced to pay keen attention to our thoughts, holding them for a while, before setting them out on the paper.
It improves your hand-eye coordination, which is different for every letter and the connection between the letters. And since this is mentally demanding than punching your keyboard, you’re constantly challenged to keep your thoughts and conscience on what you’re doing — writing.
That way, there will hardly be any mental blanks to make you feel the urge to check your notifications.
Robert Stone, a National Book Award-winner, captured this perfectly when he said: “The pen compels lucidity.” It sure does.
To Conclude:
When the businessman Steve Soboroff bought the novelist John Updike’s old typewriter, it had a jammed ribbon still in it. On it, is a snippet of the writer’s letter addressed to his New Yorker editor:
I’ve bought a word processor and we’re slowly coming to an
understanding. It’s quick as the devil, but has very little
imagination, and no smalltalk.
Our modern methods of writing aren’t all bad. Even Updike, as ancient and vastly loyal as he was to the olden culture of writing, accompanied by the pleasant smell of papers, admits that writing, when it is not by hand, is quicker. Imagine how much has changed since Updike’s demise more than a decade ago.
If speed is all we need in writing the perfect essay, the perfect book, the perfect letter, then we’d all be lucky to be alive in this century. Unfortunately, it isn’t. It, speed, is precisely what sets writing apart from all other forms of artistic exercises — the freedom to do it over and over again until you get it right, and no matter how long it takes.
Writing by hand isn’t just for famous authors. Though uncommon now, we can reap so much from trying this exercise while giving our eyes the rest they deserve from the glowing screens of our computers.
NB: No pen or paper was harmed in crafting this piece.
