How Journaling Can Help with Healthy Aging

Healthy aging is simply a way to embrace your age and improve your overall health and 
wellness. A big part of that is finding more clarity into your life, understanding who you 
are, and knowing what you want to leave behind. Journaling can be a wonderful tool for 
people of any age, but there are some unique benefits for older adults.


It Keeps Your Memory Sharp

One of the most common concerns older adults have is losing their memory. If you are 
afraid of not having as vivid of a memory, or struggling with diseases like Alzheimer’s or 
Dementia, the journal can help tremendously. You will be able to record your life, both 
what is happening now, and writing about past memories you have. It helps you keep it 
fresh in your mind as you recollect on all your favorite moments. The more you do this, 
the sharper your mind will begin to be.


You Can Improve Your Mindset

Your mindset and attitude can have a drastic effect on how you feel as you get older. If 
you want to be happy and healthy as an older adult, you need to have a positive 
mindset. It’s not always easy to do, and sometimes it just takes a little mental shift. This 
can be accomplished by writing in your journal, finding more clarity into your life, and 
writing down everything you are grateful for.


It Allows You to Focus on Your New Goals

If you find that you have a lot of goals for this phase of your life, but you don’t focus 
much on them, or you fail to really plan out what needs to be done to achieve them, 
journaling can help tremendously with this. A lot of people not only are able to narrow 
down the focus of their goals, but come up with lists of tasks to be done, set priorities, 
and achieve their goals.

It is never too late to work on yourself, improve your life, and accomplish what you really 
want to accomplish the most. 


You Have Something to Leave Behind

This depends on the style of journaling you want to do. There are many different forms 
of journaling, from stream of consciousness style where you do more of a brain dump 
on the page, to writing about your day and trying to find clarity into certain aspects of 
your life. 

If you want something to leave behind for your children and grandchildren and great-
grandchildren, start a journal specifically for that purpose. Fill it with memories of your 
childhood, your family life, your favorite moments from your life, your favorite movies 
and TV shows, what you do for fun, and anything else you can think to write about.


