Contents
Everything your brain loses by stopping handwriting
Psychology
This activity activates three regions of the brain: the motor area, the visual area and the cognitive area.
We do not have to go very far back to talk about the time when computing was not one of the pillars of our life. Before there were one – or several – computers in every home, before emails existed and the use of the Internet was widespread, we resorted to pen and paper for everything.
Correspondence was maintained regularly, the little ones in the house did their schoolwork by hand and postcards were still sent every time one traveled, to remind their loved ones that they were still safe and sound, since there was no WhatsApp to go to. .
But the handwriting, a previously common practice that we have now left in the background in favor of keyboards, screens and virtual correspondence, is an activity that brings us infinite benefits for our body and mind.
Handwrite activates three brain regions: the motor area, the visual area and the cognitive area. Explains Dr. Marta Ochoa, head of the Neurology service at HM Hospitales in Madrid, that doing so activates many neural networks, and consequently improves our cognitive capacity. It highlights the importance of this activity in children, since for them it constitutes a «fundamental learning for the development at a practical level of the management of fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, the development of the gripper and motor control ». In the case of adults, this activity encourages “prospective and working memory, as well as further stimulates the brain by activating other areas such as smell in the face of paper or its own touch.”
The Centta Institute psychologist Silvia Cintrano, for her part, points out that, on a psychological level, writing by hand «is a great emotional channel, facilitating expression without any type of limit, judgment or restriction “, as well as stresses that it can help us develop” creativity and the organization of ideas. ” The professional even comments that thanks to handwriting, “feelings and doubts are clarified” even one is encouraged to get to know each other better and make decisions from a more friendly and conscious place.
Elephant memory
Memory activation is one of the most important benefits of handwriting. Dr. Ochoa says that this activity stimulates semantic memory, “The warehouse in which we keep all the knowledge in the world.” This is because when you translate it, you not only think about the word itself, but also about all the knowledge of how to write it, where it is accented and how the hand moves to write it.
«It stimulates various executive functions such as planning, by having to anticipate what you are going to write; flexibility, having to stick to the sidelines or make mistakes; the work memory, by keeping an idea in mind … », adds the doctor.
On the other hand, the psychologist Silvia Cintrano talks about how writing by hand can benefit nervous people or with anxiety. This is because, since anxiety occurs because too much attention is paid to an external factor, that is, environmental, or internal, thoughts, focusing our attention on something else helps us. “Writing by hand is usually a good way to take your attention away from these symptoms, and focus on what is behind it. The content helps to become aware of what has caused the anxiety (or the emotion that we are experiencing) ”, explains the professional.
Why should we keep writing letters?
The psychologist Silvia Cintrano, from the Centta Institute, lists the virtues of maintaining a correspondence or writing letters, even if they never reach their addressee. “Writing when you have an open conflict, regardless of how long it has been open, always helps to solve it in a certain sense,” explains the professional. This happens because writing makes you more aware of the problem, so it helps to organize ideas and feelings. In addition, the psychologist comments that writing is «a esilent expression of what is not known or it cannot be expressed aloud, or due to lack of tools or the inability to speak with the other person. For this reason, when it is translated, an immediate relief is produced, “a resolution of entrenched problems, regardless of whether it ends up being sent to the addressee.”
While it’s completely different, typing on a keyboard also packs a punch. Dr. Ochoa notes that typing allows us to quickly write long text, as well as to instantly file, copy, and send it in ways that handwriting does not allow. For her part, Silvia Cintrano argues that, everything that helps to express and order ideas It does have a benefit, but typing on a keyboard still doesn’t have the same punch or punch as handwriting.
In this case, Dr. Ochoa comments that although activities that reduce our mental work make life easier for us, in the long term they are counterproductive, especially in older people or those with cognitive impairment. «By having telephones one no longer memorizes numbers or addresses. Having a card that contributes the necessary amount is no longer necessary to calculate for small payments or with coins. It is the same with writing. By having a computer or tablet that writes for us we lose a number of cognitive skills, motor and visual that are no longer exercised “, explains the expert.
Even so, he asserts that these skills can be compensated just by spending a few minutes a day writing thoughts, phrases, or organizing by hand and writing letters. It also states that any task that stimulate memory, the use of language and the knowledge of words, such as crosswords, word searches and other hobbies helps.