When you see the word “journal,” you might immediately leap to images of small, hard-back books filled with the scribblings of a child. Journaling, however, is not relegated to young people, and can actually be a useful tool in perpetuating health and avoiding illness and injury.
How Journaling Can Improve Your Diabetes
Journaling is not merely a good practice; it can actually have an important, positive effect on your overall health and well-being—particularly with regard to keeping stable blood sugar. How exactly does journaling do that?
#1. It Keeps Track of Your Life
Journaling looks different for everyone. Some people journal a page per day, while others are content to jot down a few lines and call it good. Whichever falls closer to your personal journaling style, writing down information about your day and about yourself gives you a quick glimpse into how you are doing—a glimpse you might not take the time to go over without seeing it in writing.
#2. It Could Help Identify Patterns
If you notice that you always feel grumpy at a certain time of the month, or exhilarated after a particular activity, you could begin implementing changes to keep your joy high and your difficulties low. You might notice a specific time of day when your blood sugar consistently jumps, or you might find a particular food item that upsets your levels.
#3. Journaling Keeps You Accountable
Writing down your thoughts, feelings, and experiences could help keep you accountable for making decisions regarding food, exercise, and medication. If you know you’ll be writing down what you’ve done in your day; you may be less likely to overindulge and avoid your daily goals.
#4. It Can Provide You With Inspiration
Glancing back over your failures and successes can provide you with inspiration moving forward. You can identify your strengths and weaknesses in your treatment plan, and life overall, in order to improve your health. Journaling is a great way to take a peek into your life without glitz or glamour, and can inspire you to either make some changes or continue on your current path.
Journaling is a wonderful, effective way to reduce stress and offer insight into your own habits, needs, and wants. Journaling with diabetes might not seem like a significant way to change your weight, your eating habits, or your illness, but evaluating your own habits can help you create new, improved behaviors.
