Heart-health expert and CEO of the American Foundation for Women’s Health, Mellanie True Hills, sends an email noting that, “maybe writing can not only cure chronic disease but also keep you from getting it in the first place.” Her comment stems from a blog entry she read on the SHI Symbol International’s Weblog:
“Research from Arizona State University has shown that writing could lower your cholesterol and give you a healthier heart. Yes, by simply WRITING. It seems that if you write affectionately about loved ones for 20 minutes, 3 times a week you could receive this added bonus of a reduced cholesterol level.”
Can this be so? I cannot at this time find the original study, so in mulling this over, I find myself reflecting on Miller’s Law of communication: “Assume the communication is true and then imagine what it can be true of.”
My take on this blog entry, when I assume the presented information to be true, generates theses reactions:
- Stress can influence cholesterol levels. (read more)
- Expressive writing can lower stress because such writing often results in disclosure, emerging insights, and the ability to reframe and learn from what has happened to us.
- When we write to honor others, we honor ourselves. This can raise self-esteem and lower or prevent depression–a very bad emotion for heart health.
Most of all, this news underscores that we can use a writing practice to help ourselves prevent illness and distress which trumps having to turn to writing to recover from illness and distress.
4 responses so far ↓
1 Steve Kirk // Mar 20, 2008 at 9:39 am
“When we write to honor others, we honor ourselves…” I think this coincides with my advice to the self-absorbed to try to reach a point of empathy and identity with someone else. Assessing, considering and cataloging the problems of others does two things with regard to depression. First, you gain a sense of perspective, you are not the only one suffering on earth. Second, your focus even if for just a brief moment is not merely ego-centric. The happiest elders I have met, for example, are those little “old” ladies who sit and rock and pray, sit and rock and pray and sit and rock and pray. Often wracked with arthritic pain, themselves, their outlooks are invariably bright, caring and outward looking. Steve Kirk blogs for seniors at http://www.theperfectsense.com.
2 Writing Help Atrial Fibrillation | Atrial Fibrillation Blog // Mar 23, 2008 at 7:05 am
[...] that writing can lower cholesterol and give you a healthier heart. Dr. Taliaferro just wrote about writing as a heart-healthy prevention strategy in her [...]
3 Jan Pagonis // Apr 17, 2008 at 8:55 pm
Hello again Dr Taliaferro and Mellanie - I did leave a response to your comment on our SHI Symbol International weblog, but maybe you didn’t get it. Thanks again for your comments and if you click or copy this link http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/65885.php you will go to a source for the University of Arizona’s Research by Kory Floyd, Associate Profesor of Human Communication. You should be able to do your checking that what we published was in fact - fact!
kind regards Jan
4 Ellen Taliaferro, MD // Apr 18, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Jan, thank you for this link. Awesome. Ellen
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