Keeping a journal is very beneficial to your physical health, whether you are trying to figure out why you have allergy attacks, lose weight, or just manage your general health. Consider these different benefits of journaling for your physical health.
Log What You Eat
One way journaling helps with health is by looking at what you are eating on a daily basis. This is important for a number of reasons. First of all, by knowing what you eat, you can see what type of nutrition you are getting, and what you might be lacking. You might find that while you eat plenty of whole grains, you aren’t getting enough fruits and vegetables on a daily basis, or that you aren’t drinking enough water for proper hydration. Another way it helps you is by tracking what and when you eat in order to adjust your weight. You can see where your biggest issues are with food and work to improve them.
It Helps You Notice Various Ailments
There may be physical ailments you are dealing with that aren’t made obvious right away. Start a journal and write down how you are feeling on a physical level every day. Be honest and pay attention to your different body cues. Perhaps you have a headache one day, and another day your stomach hurts. Also write down what you were doing, eating, and drinking that day. You may soon notice patterns, such as always getting headaches when work is stressful.
You Can Keep a Schedule of Activities
If you are working on your fitness, the journal is a great way to keep track of your daily physical activities. Perhaps you want to do arms and legs on alternating days if you do strength training, and having a little calendar in your journal helps you keep track. You might also want to follow the trends of your regular physical activity each day by wearing a pedometer or fitness tracker and recording the data in the journal each day. There are a lot of ways to use a journal for your physical health.
Identify Triggers for Emotional Eating
Emotional eating is unfortunately very common, often stemming from stress or anxiety in your life. You feel sadness, depression, anxiety, or other issues and you use food as a way to cope with it, similar to how people use substance abuse to deal with their problems. If you know you have been emotionally eating, but don’t know why, journaling every day can help you look for your patterns.
These are just a few ideas to get you started. Once you keep a health journal for a month it will be clearer what type of journaling you need for your wellness journey. One type of journal I recommend to my clients is a food and mood journal. This journal helps you know what you eat, how often and when your eating, and how does what you are eating make you feel.