Blogging: It's Good for You. Fact.

Greetings readers,

I seem to be writing rather prolifically right now - think it has something to do with the fact that I am nearing my return to London in preparation for my Masters at the LSE and have suddenly become very busy. Plus I am going to visit a friend in Berlin the week after next. They say laziness breeds laziness, but by the same logic, the opposite also seems to ring true. Anyway, this post is a slight departure from all the health policy posts I have been making. I have just read a fascinating Scientific American article from last year detailing the neurobiological aspects of blogging, and indeed, how it seems to be therapeutic for those that blog regularly.

According to the article, scientists have long known about the therapeutic benefits of writing about personal experiences, thoughts and feelings. But besides serving as a stress-coping mechanism, expressive writing produces many physiological benefits. Research shows that it improves memory and sleep, boosts immune cell activity and reduces viral loads in AIDS patients, and even speeds healing after surgery. Amazing. Being very candid for a moment, I would say that in retrospect, I probably entered a phase of depression earlier this year with job woes and lack of money. However, within a couple of weeks of applying to the LSE I decided to resume my blog with renewed vigour, and have been on a metaphorical high ever since. Not only has blogging helped me regain confidence, it has allowed me to channel my focus and creativity, develop a network of like-minded contacts, and given me the ability to think 'big' and have a vision. In essence, blogging has been nothing short of fantastic for my self-esteem.

Anyhow, the SA article goes on to explore the neurobiological and physiological underpinnings towards blogging. Indeed, conditions such as hypergraphia, an uncontrollable urge to write, and writer's block, have been implicated as an explanation behind the drive bloggers have to communicate. Certainly, I share this hypothesis, as my blog posts are very rarely pre-meditated, more as a consequence of being in a certain 'receptive' mood, and normally having just read something interesting. This is no doubt accompanied by an increase in blood flow to my pre-frontal cortex and limbic system.

Indeed, it is the limbic system which controls our drives, whether they are related to food, sex, appetite, or problem solving. Therefore if blogging is compulsive, and related to our drives, the limbic system must also be implicated. Very interesting indeed. Furthermore, the article goes on to mention how blogging might also trigger dopamine release, similar to stimulants like music, running and looking at art. Personally, what I really like to do is listen to music whilst blogging, and drinking a cup of tea. Triple dopamine hit no doubt.

What is really interesting in this article is the mention of how some hospitals have started patient-authored blogs on their web sites as clinicians begin to recognise the therapeutic value. Unlike a bedside journal, blogging offers the added benefit of receptive readers in similar situations. I guess what this invokes is a sense of shared empathy, which can only be a good thing for those people who are ill, or in a recovery phase.

Given my personal experience of blogging and this rather interesting clinical evidence, I'm in no doubt that I shall continue to blog, or at least write expressively as long as I live.

Currently listening to "The Hawk is Howling" by Mogwai. Reflective, magisterial, angry, sombre and hopeful. All at the same time. An amazing album by an amazing band.

Thank you for reading,

Peace,

F.