This week’s Better You, Backed by Science is about using a pen rather than typing on a keyboard.
Ever noticed that when you write something down… you understand it better?
I’ve found this myself. If I write with a pen, I tend to remember more than if I type. I can type faster than I write, but the slower pace of writing is key.
It slows my brain down enough for me to get a better understanding, especially if I’m studying something.
And that slowing down has even more benefits.
Writing strengthens understanding
When you write by hand, your brain is doing more than recording words.
Research shows you’re engaging movement, attention, and thought all at once. The human brain has evolved so that the movement of our hands as we form letters – whether in the modern day as letters forming words, or in the distant past as paintings on cave walls – is associated with the meaning of the words or images.
The physical movement of the hand and what the result means is connected, so when we physically write, we understand more deeply than when we just type.
The science shows us that when you’re writing by hand, you’re not just copying – you’re processing.
Studies show that people who take notes by hand tend to understand concepts more deeply than those who type them.
In a sense, typing is transcription. Writing allows processing.
Another thing that writing does is clear mental space.
Writing clears mental space
Your brain is brilliant at thinking… but it’s not so great at holding lots of thoughts at once.
When everything stays in your head, it competes for attention. It gets noisy.
Writing things down acts like a mental release valve. As the thoughts land on the page, it frees up space in your head, so your mind can focus, connect ideas, and think more clearly.
Then you start to understand better.
Writing also reveals what you don’t yet understand
Have you ever tried to explain something… and realised halfway through that you’re not as clear as you thought?
As the great physicist Richard Feynman famously suggested:
If you can’t explain something simply, you may not fully understand it yet.
I have this in mind when I’m writing something new or if I’m studying a piece of science that I’m trying to better understand.
I set myself the goal of writing it in a way that someone with absolutely no background in the subject could understand.
Initially, writing reveals the gaps in my understanding, but then it forces ideas into structure. Into sentences. Into something that does makes sense.
In my experience it helps me get clarity.
It’s a way of hearing myself think.
Because writing doesn’t just capture your thoughts.
It sharpens them.
Try this – a simple way to think more clearly
If you want clearer thinking, try this:
The Pen-to-Paper Clarity Reset
- Take a pen and paper
- Write down what you’re trying to understand or decide
- Keep going until it becomes simple
Try it today – even for a few minutes – and notice the difference.
Want to explore more?
I always make a YouTube video based on these Better You, Backed by Science emails.
If you’d like to view this one, where I dive a little deeper into the science, here’s the direct link.
And here’s a link to my entire Better You, Backed by Science playlist, with a video on every single previous email going back to the middle of last year.
References (for those who wish to explore further)
Mueller & Oppenheimer (2014) – The Pen Is Mightier Than the Keyboard. Link.
Pennebaker & Chung (2011) – Expressive writing and health. Link.
Cognitive Load Theory. Link.
More
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