Since her retirement, an old family friend has begun visually journaling her travels. She isn’t an "artist," but that doesn’t diminish her joy in capturing her experiences or the authenticity and appeal of her sketches and musings. It was inspiring and I tucked it away as a good idea for later. When I saw the recent Van der Weel and Van der Meer (2024) study about handwriting and cognitive activation, I thought about my friend, the passage of time, and aging and realized that it was time to hunt up all my retro media (pens, pencils, watercolors, bound journals, and sketchpads) and shift some activities from keyboard to paper as an investment in brain health.
While it seems most relevant to boomers and Gen X, we should all take note of the study by Van der Weel and Van der Meer (2024), too, who found writing by hand (rather than tapping away on your keyboard) increases brain connectivity. It may be time to consider deleting some of those list-making and journal apps from your phone and return to paper and notebooks. Healthy media use of any kind is, after all, about balance. I realized that I write very little by hand but if doing so activates the whole brain, then it may join the list of activities, like doing crossword puzzles and learning a new language, that help stave off cognitive decline. Adding a few pictures alongside your musings (aka visual journaling) would combine the cognitive activity of handwriting with the extensive benefits of art therapy, such as improved cognitive performance and movement; enhanced self-identity and meaning in life;........