Tag Archives: expressive writing

Write Yourself to Sleep

A recent study extended the benefit of expressive writing to 111 female college students recruited from an undergraduate psychology class. The students were randomly assigned to either an expressive writing group or a control group. Students in the writing group were instructed to write about their deepest feelings and concerns regarding body image and eating concerns. Students in the control group were instructed to write about their plans over the previous week in a time-management context. Eight weeks later, students in the expressive writing group reported significantly less difficulty sleeping compared to students in the control group. This effect occurred even though the expressive writing didn’t concern sleep. Body image concerns presumably acted as a source of stress for the students. Expressive writing appeared to diminish the effects of the stress.
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Write a Forgiveness Letter

Process the emotions of painful experiences Jettison grudges and reduce chronic stress If you harbor a grudge against someone, would you consider letting go of that grudge? Many people who harbor toxic, unprocessed feelings about another person have let go of those feelings by writing a forgiveness letter. Writing a forgiveness letter is one version…
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