Journaling and the nervous system: from expressive writing to affect labeling

practices · Curated meta-analyses and primary studies (1986–2023) · 2023

Forty years of evidence say the same boring thing: writing about what is happening inside you, in the right way, measurably regulates autonomic load. The dose, structure and prompt matter more than the notebook.

Authors

Pennebaker, Smyth, Frattaroli, Sloan, Lieberman, Kross & colleagues

Research lens

Forty years of evidence say the same boring thing: writing about what is happening inside you, in the right way, measurably regulates autonomic load. The dose, structure and prompt matter more than the notebook.

  • journaling
  • expressive-writing
  • self-regulation
  • nervous-system
  • wellness
  • library