Stress Awareness Month and journaling

Stress Awareness Month: Has journaling become the hallmark of the self-care revolution?

Stress is a problem in the US and UK.

For example:

17% of Brits say that they have picked up journaling over the course of the past two years to help with their mental health

31% of Brits say writing about their mental health experiences in a creative way has allowed them to better understand themselves

31% feel more comfortable writing about their troubling experiences than talking about them

StoryTerrace, the UK's leading biography-writing service, finds that thousands of individuals are turning to journaling to aid their mental health

This month is dedicated to Stress Awareness - an important time which highlights how to manage modern-day stresses. This year has undoubtedly been stress-inducing as the cost-of-living crisis and work-related issues continue to stack pressure on Brits across the nation. CIPHR found that one in five UK adults feel stressed more days a month than they don't. As Brits looks for ways to manage and reduce stress levels, an enlightening study by StoryTerrace, the UK's leading biography-writing service, outlined the cathartic and profound benefits associated with journaling and creative writing in aiding mental health symptoms, particularly those linked to stress.

Increasingly, evidence has pointed to the benefits of penning down your thoughts. Alongside the stratospheric rise of 'self-care', more and more people are seeing the importance of journaling. Journaling is on the rise to become the number one choice in looking after our wellbeing, with 37% of young adults using writing as a cathartic practice. Not only does journaling have mental health benefits, studies have shown that writing by hand is associated with stronger neural encoding and memory retrieval. Memory plays an important role in pathological thinking and doctors found that elevated stress hormones impact the ability to remember memories of the experience.

StoryTerrace's landmark research discovered that 22% of the nation agree that journaling has been the most beneficial aid to their mental health to date, with Google reports showing a 110% increase in searches for journalling ideas over the past year. Now prescribed by doctors and healthcare specialists as a way to begin addressing mental health issues, along with meditation, this practice has become the hallmark of the so-called 'self-care revolution'.

Note:

22% feel that journaling has been the most beneficial aid to their mental health to date

Recalling events from the past, processing troubling experiences and connecting with family history have been proven to have profound effects on your well-being. Not only that, but StoryTerrace found that over a third of the nation says writing about their mental health experiences in a creative way has allowed them to better understand themselves.

Rutger Bruining, CEO/founder of StoryTerrace, comments on the healing powers of journaling:

"There is power in writing, I believe it is the purest form of self-exploration and creativity. With journaling in particular, penning our deepest inner thoughts provides an outlet to better understand ourselves and rationalise overwhelming moments. For us at StoryTerrace, it is not just about documenting one’s story, it is about cementing your identity by connecting you with your past.

"Hundreds of the memoirs that we see at StoryTerrace start from an individual's journal - we see it all the time. They represent a capsule of one's thoughts and feelings at a certain point and allow reflection on that experience for years to come. People cherish their journals and keep them as keepsakes, and that is what is so beautiful about StoryTerrace.

"Through our proprietary research, we have seen a boom in people picking up journaling - and it is often these journals that form the foundation of any memoir. As they offer insight into how we felt at certain times, our perception of events and our surroundings. All of which is the very essence of providing clarity on how we recall our memories."

StoryTerrace's mission is to ensure that every life story is captured and passed on in a meaningful way. Its award-winning memoir writing service takes care of the whole process - matching clients with one of over 750 professional writers, interviewing, photo gathering, editing, designing, and printing their very own book. Books are on average 100 pages long, meaning that everyone can have their life story - or those of their loved ones - documented in a professionally curated biography or series of memoirs.