Practice Your Handwriting

Chicken scrawl

Almost all my writing is on a keyboard – typing on my laptop or tablet, or phone. I write by hand only occasionally these days; jotting a quick reminder on a scratch pad, or making notes during a call. My handwriting has slowly deteriorated to a chicken scrawl; it gets so bad when I hurry that I sometimes can’t read what I’ve written when I review my notes. Chagrined, I’ve begun to consciously slow down to write more legibly.

Class notes

I had good cursive handwriting in my younger days. More than one of my undergraduate classmates would come by to borrow my class notes when they missed an occasional lecture. “Mukund takes very good notes in class,” they’d say.  Thinking back, I realize my practice of taking handwritten notes in the classroom forced me to focus on the professor’s words and helped me to grasp the concepts and remember the material better.

How we remember things better

Dr. Audrey van der Meer, a neuroscientist and professor of neuropsychology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, is an expert on the underlying principles that guide development, learning, and cognitive ageing in children and adults. Together with her husband, a professor of cognitive psychology, she’s studied the differences in brain activity when we write by hand or type on a keyboard. Their research shows that writing by hand stimulates more areas of the brain. “The whole brain is basically involved when you write by hand or draw, and that is not the case when you type,” she says, “the keyboard elicits only very simple finger movements, whereas when you write by hand or draw, very intricate movements are performed. We use our senses much more, thereby involving more of the brain.” 

Information is exchanged between multiple parts of the brain that are active at the same time through neural oscillations or waves at different frequencies. The researchers saw increased, synchronous activity in low-frequency bands with handwriting; in motor areas of the brain that control movement, as well as in other areas of the brain associated with learning. Previous research has shown that these low-frequency waves also support memory processes. Handwriting increased this connectivity across the parietal regions of the brain, which are involved in sensory and motor processing, with the central brain regions involved in memory. This was not the case with typing. “The need for cross communication between different parts of the brain forces it to be more active,” Dr. van der Meer says. 

Synchronized activity in different parts of the brain is correlated with improved learning and remembering. It is also noteworthy that damage to the parietal region can lead to difficulties with sensory perception, navigation, or other cognitive functions; so it is reasonable to conclude that keeping this part of the brain active and healthy will help delay or mitigate cognitive decline as we age.

Stimulating the brain

Studies of children who learned to read and write on a tablet show that some have difficulty differentiating letters of the alphabet that look similar but are mirror images of each other. Researchers think this is because these children have not physically felt the difference in motion required to produce a b and a d, for example. With typing, both letters need one keystroke; handwriting requires different motions for each. Handwriting is an extremely good stimulation for both the developing and aging brain. “You have to challenge your brain on a regular basis,” van der Meer argues. She also feels strongly that handwriting is part of our cultural heritage that should be passed down through generations, preserving an important dimension of being human.

Cognitive and mental benefits

The physical and mental engagement of handwriting has several cognitive benefits. In addition to boosting memory and learning and enhancing comprehension, it enhances critical thinking and can inspire creativity. We have to choose words and frame our sentences with more thought and deliberation.  It forces us to slow down, be more mindful, and focus; it requires us to be more patient. Studies have also shown that handwriting acts as a therapeutic tool, providing emotional and psychological benefits. It is a mechanism for emotional release and reduces stress and anxiety. It can strengthen self-awareness and promote a sense of accomplishment. 

Practice your handwriting

Are you surprised that regular handwriting practice can be another weapon in your arsenal to improve or maintain your health and well-being, improve cognitive function, provide a form of mindful relaxation, and promote emotional processing? The physical act of forming letters engages multiple brain regions and offers therapeutic benefits that can help reduce stress and anxiety. Especially in today’s frenzied, AI-fueled digital age, when ‘smart technologies’ are being used to automate and speed up everything around us, a practice that helps us slow down and savor the present is invaluable. The pen can be mightier than the keyboard.

I’m reminded of the time when I asked a learned and accomplished uncle, then in his late 80s, to recommend ten books on history and philosophy. A little later, he handed me a handwritten list, in beautiful, elegant cursive. Handwriting that put me, some forty years his junior, to shame.

As I finish typing this piece, my fingers pause over the keyboard for a moment of reflection. Could the simple practice of maintaining a personal journal and writing in cursive every day help me – and you – to delay or mitigate cognitive decline as we age? Let’s find out!