Getting personal and writing about the truly traumatic—just like all that teenage angst—may help your body heal 4.4 times faster, according to a study published in Psychosomatic Medicine. Participants were asked to write for 20 minutes on three consecutive days. After 11 days, 76% of adults who penned thoughts, feelings, and emotions about upsetting events recovered from a small biopsy wound on the upper arm. In comparison, 42% of those who simply jotted down routine, impersonal information had healed wounds. But baring your soul to paper isn’t the only pen exercise that can give you benefits. German researchers asked adults to write about personal life goals in three consecutive sessions. In doing so, participants’ cortisol awakening response—a neuroendocrine marker linked to psychosocial and physical wellbeing—lowered significantly. (Read: They were less stressed.) What’s more: After the initial life-goal writing session, participants experienced a spike in mood, although the happy trend didn’t continue to pop up in additional sessions, according to The Journal of Health Psychology study. Both studies build on previous research, which established a link between writing about trauma and life goals and a drop in illness-related doctor visits. Since stress is associated with slower wound healing, experts suggest that the relaxing effect of penning your deepest desires and darkest memories triggers a ripple of body benefits. “Theoretically, writing allows a person to process an event, make sense of it, and therefore move beyond it,” says Psychosomatic Medicine study author Elizabeth Broadbent, PhD, senior lecturer of psychological medicine at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. However, don’t obsess about a situation. Repeatedly journaling about an event could actually prevent you from getting past it, she says citing anecdotal evidence. While current research isn’t clear-cut enough to draft a writing prescription, there is a common thread woven through research on the topic: working out the matters of your heart does the body good. More from Prevention: Secret Habits of Happy Women The Happiest Age The Yoga Workout That Makes You Happier
