What You Need to Do to Be Healthy: Keep a Diary

Although diary keeping is often perceived as a tool used to write down the depression and unrequited loves of adolescence, research shows that diary keeping on brain health shows that it has positive effects.

An example of this is Hüseyin Aydoğan, who has been keeping a diary for 72 years.

Hüseyin Aydoğan is exactly 100 years old and has been writing every day in a notebook for years.

In Boğazcık District of Ordu’s Thursday district Aydoğan, the father of four living children and the owner of 29 grandchildren, has been keeping a diary for 72 years without missing a single day.

100 year old Hüseyin AydoğanIt is also noteworthy that, despite his age, he looks very vigorous and does not have any serious health problems. He writes regularly in his diary every day, what he did during the day, where he went, and the work he did. He says that when he reads the articles in his archive, he remembers his youth.

He remembers years ago so easily and has no health problems. keeping a regular diary Could he be in debt?

Neuroscientists and psychologists have discovered that storing personal information in memory occurs between two different brain regions. caused a conflict and they state that this situation causes a decrease in cognitive functions.

Well this is harmful A simple way to reduce the effects What if we said it was? This is all about writing the information on a piece of paper. In research on memory strengthening, the data of 10 thousand people over the age of 70 living in Australia and followed for 10 years were examined.

These researches; journalingfound that those who participated in reading and writing activities, such as writing letters or using a computer, had an 11% lower risk of developing dementia.

Similarly, it was observed that mentally active activities reduced the risk of dementia by 9%.

A team from Monash University, “Enriching lifestyle is especially important for older adults because changes in daily activities can help prevent dementia.” He made a statement. The World Health Organization reports that there are approximately 50 million people with dementia worldwide, and approximately 10 million new cases occur each year.

A study conducted in 2021, cases of dementia It is estimated that it will almost triple to more than 153 million by 2050 due to the aging population. Each of us carries this risk. So how can we avoid this?

Neuroscientist David Eagleman has put forward one of the important theories explaining how keeping secrets can damage our brains.

Eagleman, “Incognito: The Secret Life of the Brain” In his book, he states that keeping secrets is unhealthy for the brain. According to him, a kind of “neural conflict” is taking place between two brain regions responsible for carrying a secret. While one side may try to get rid of this information by sharing it, the other side may want to bury it deep. As a result of this conflict, the brain gets tired.

According to psychologist Clayton Critcher, the process of keeping secrets is a kind of It requires “self-control”. According to Critcher, these processes are quite challenging and the brain can only manage one at a time.

In a published study, Critcher and his team examined how the energy spent keeping a secret affected other cognitive tasks.

This study aims to help those who have to keep their secrets They are physically weaker and showed that they had a harder time staying calm during stressful social interactions. The challenges of keeping secrets have a significant impact on mental and physical health.

Keep a secret, It can increase the levels of stress hormones such as cortisol. Studies also show that people who keep secrets are more depressed, and people who withhold information are more prone to symptoms such as headaches, nausea and back pain.

So what do we do?

Keeping information in our minds, It can create a burden on our brain. And one way to ease this burden is to put this information on paper, as Uncle Hüseyin did.

David Eaglemanin his books and interviews, cites many studies that point to the benefits of sharing secrets as a way to resolve nervous conflicts.

Of course, most of us cannot share our deepest secrets with people we don’t know. At this point the importance of keeping a diary We can remember again.

Psychologist working at the University of Texas James Pennebaker’s research also He says that explaining information, even by writing it down, can “unblock the brain” by increasing neural connections.

Pennebaker’s studies also show the various benefits of writing.

Reduced stress levels in participants who kept a diary, increased immune system functions and reduced stress-related doctor visits.

In addition to improving our cognitive functions, journaling can improve memory, increase the ability to cope with stressful situations, and reduce errors at work. So it’s just Don’t just say “daily”There is no need to discuss its effect on strengthening memory.

Hüseyin Aydogan He must know this secret because he owes his strong memory to writing diaries since 1952. For those who want to watch the video:

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