Latest / Impact Ready / 210. The Science of Writing by Hand: Memory, Learning, and Coaching Benefits

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210. The Science of Writing by Hand: Memory, Learning, and Coaching Benefits · Impact Ready

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  Welcome to Impact Ready, a show dedicated to helping you elevate
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  your impact in the world. I'm Steph Safra, your host.
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  Let's explore the power of showing up with intention and
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  energy each day. This is for those who seek to
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  make life truly meaningful. Get ready for impact.
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  Hello, team. Welcome to the Impact Ready
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  podcast. I'm grateful you're here today.
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  In this episode, we're going to talk about something a little
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  bit different in the show. We often talk about how to get
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  clear around the things that you want.
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  Clarity is king and to understand the root of what your
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  roadblocks might be, whether it's old programming or feelings
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  or specific beliefs or stories that might be limiting you.
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  We talk about that all the time. And one of the ways that I have
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  clients work on this stuff is I will often ask them to journal
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  or maybe give them some other writing techniques to get to
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  these places of clarity. And when I do that, I'm always
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  really specific about one thing, the writing part.
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  One of the best ways to really get clarity on things and to
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  think things out is by writing them down.
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  Not typing, not leaving yourself a voice memo or even voice
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  typing into your computer or on your phone, but by physically
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  taking out a pen and a piece of paper and writing things by
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  hand. Any coaching client of mine
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  who's listening to this is probably shaking their head
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  because they hear me say this so often.
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  But in today's episode, I'm going to get into why this is so
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  important rather than simply saying to my clients.
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  Writing creates connections and lights up different areas of
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  your brain in a different way than typing.
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  Today we'll go a little more in depth.
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  I want to actually get into the science of this and talk about
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  what was shown in a couple of different studies.
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  And for those of you who are interested in the study that I'm
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  referencing today, it's in Frontiers in Psychology 2024,
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  and the scientist is Audrey van der Meer.
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  So van der Meer is a neuroscientist out of Norway.
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  And in her research study, she put EEG caps on university
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  students heads. You guys have seen these caps
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  before. They have like 250 sensors on
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  them and they measure brain waves.
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  So she put these EEG caps on students heads and then showed
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  them words on a screen one at a time.
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  Each student had to either write the word by hand using a digital
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  pen or they typed it on a keyboard.
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  And then they measure the brain activity and recorded it
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  throughout the duration of all of these tasks.
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  Now, what science already knows is when you write a single
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  letter by hand, it's not one simple motion.
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  It requires the coordination of your hand, your wrist, your
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  eyes, your brain, your arm, and they all have to work together
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  to produce the letter shape. Think about when you first
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  learned how to write and even just trying to do the motion.
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  Now you can see how much coordination that takes in terms
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  of fine motor skills. And each letter in the alphabet
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  is slightly different. And because of that, large areas
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  of your brain have to switch on while you're writing by hand.
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  Specifically the parts that are responsible for memory, movement
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  and learning. They all have to fire together.
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  Now, this is a huge reason why information sticks when we are
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  writing things down. It's due to this coordinated
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  effort in all these different regions in the brain firing at
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  once. And this is opposed to our most
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  popular way of writing these days, which is typing on a
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  keyboard where every key requires the exact same finger
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  motion. All you have to do is press it
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  down the letter or the shape of the letter doesn't matter at
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  all. So your brain doesn't really
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  have much to figure out. Now, the study that we were
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  talking about showed that in the EEG data, the brain activity
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  that was seen during the handwriting almost completely
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  went away when the same students were typing the same words.
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  So what was seen when they were writing almost went away when
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  they were typing. And there have been other
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  studies that show the same thing, and they've gotten a lot
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  of attention, which is why I'm so adamant about this with my
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  clients. A study out of Princeton had
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  half of a group of students taking notes on laptops and half
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  writing by hand, and then that group of students went and took
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  an exam using the notes that they had taken.
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  Now, what would you guess in terms of the results?
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  The handwriting group scored higher on every question that
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  tested understanding. Oh, why?
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  Why would that be? Because typing allows you to
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  just simply transcribe ideas or whatever you're hearing.
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  It just goes in your ears and write out your fingertips like a
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  transcription. Whereas writing, it forces you
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  to listen. You have to decide what matters
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  to you, and then you have to put it in your own words.
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  That's a process of learning, and those who were typing were
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  stripped of that process. The other thing that is kind of
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  alarming about van der Meer study is that it's been shown
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  that children who learn to read and write on tablets, which it's
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  so many these days, they often can't tell the difference
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  between letters like B and DB as in boy D as in dog, because
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  they've never physically had to write them out and make those
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  shapes with their hands. Remember, each letter requires a
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  specific formation and that formation can't be done without
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  recruiting your motor skills and multiple regions of the brain,
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  very different than tapping a letter on a keyboard or a
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  tablet. Now, from a coaching lens, you
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  can see why this is so important in terms of how we want our
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  clients to have their insights and their learning.
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  If you have a coach, you've most likely been given a challenge or
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  some kind of a homework or assignment in between your
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  coaching sessions. This is to continue the learning
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  or to integrate whatever the inside or the lesson from that
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  coaching session might be. It's a way to deepen things so
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  that you don't just have the insight and then it falls away
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  after a week or two. That's not the cycle you want to
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  be in. You're not going to get anywhere
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  that way. The idea is that you want
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  integration. That's always the goal because
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  with integration, you have the ability to upgrade your
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  identity, which is all what we're hoping for from a coaching
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  process or any type of self development.
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  And This is why I always say to write things down by hand.
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  The whole point of any journaling exercise or any
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  writing challenge is to be able to make connections and uncover
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  truths about oneself. And as it was demonstrated in
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  that research study, if you're not writing it by hand and
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  you're simply typing it, your brain is not making the same
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  distinctions, the same associations, and therefore
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  creating the same memories as it would through writing.
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  Now, I know you're not surprised by this, but I love learning.
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  I love self development, I love growth.
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  But I'm no stranger to the situation where you have an
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  insight and you do the learning and then it slips away because
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  you haven't really locked in the learning.
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  And I've been noticing that a lot about myself recently,
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  especially when I'm learning online.
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  There's times where I don't retain the information in the
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  same way. And I was trying to figure out
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  what that was all about, and then I came across this study
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  again, and it all made sense. Now, I don't know how to
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  completely get away from the typing conundrum because it's
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  such a big part of our lives now.
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  But I've become so much more aware of the fact that knowledge
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  that I gain from handwriting things.
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  When I'm in a conference or even when I'm in like a Zoom seminar
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  or something and just taking handwritten notes, I noticed
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  that I remember more, I learn more, and the information sticks
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  with me in comparison to when I'm taking notes on a computer.
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  Now, as technology advances and because it's advancing so
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  rapidly, I think we're going to be in this place where we're
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  seeing some unexpected consequences of that technology.
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  Not to say that there aren't incredible benefits, but it's
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  always in hindsight that we see the full picture, isn't it?
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  I'm simply trying to notice as we go along what's feeling good
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  and what's feeling lost. I lose some of the knowledge
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  integration when I don't have the benefit of that physicality
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  of handwriting. I also noticed that my teenagers
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  handwriting isn't very good still because they never
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  practice it. Most of their school work is on
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  a computer, most of their reading assignments are on a
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  screen. They very rarely take notes.
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  They don't ever have to write papers, they just type them.
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  And I don't know what the implications of that is for
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  their brains. I don't know what it means for
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  them that they're no longer writing or what their knowledge
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  retention is going to be like. I have no idea if they're
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  retaining any of this. Let me pause here for a second.
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  If you're listening and thinking I'm capable of more or this is
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  the level I want to operate at, this is for you.
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  I work privately with a small number of high performing
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  leaders who are ready to elevate how they show up in their
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  business and in their lives. This isn't motivational
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  coaching, it's precision work. We refine your energy,
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  strengthen your ownership, and eliminate inconsistency so your
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  impact becomes undeniable. If you're ready for that level
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  of growth, book a private call through the link in the show
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  notes. We'll see if it's a fit.
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  All right, back to the episode. I think what we can all imagine
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  and acknowledge is that movement and physicality are so crucial
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  for the brain connection. And when I think about this very
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  specific issue of handwriting things for better memory
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  retention, it also reminds me that movement in general is so
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  beneficial for our well-being. We've all likely experienced the
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  power of walking out a problem, going for a walk, and just doing
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  laps while you work out some issue in your mind.
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  I know that my neighbors see me or my wife walking up and down
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  the streets, either talking to clients or talking out ideas or
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  practicing speeches. I will often just walk up and
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  down the street as I'm practicing a speech.
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  It probably looks ridiculous, but it sure as hell works.
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  And I know we've all probably experienced having a burst of
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  creativity when we're working out.
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  That happened to me the other day when I was walking on the
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  treadmill. I was just listening to some
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  music, walking it out, when all of a sudden I had this full
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  download of what I wanted the outline for my group coaching
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  workshop to be. It was amazing.
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  And we all have the experience of being in the shower and going
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  through those automatic processes of washing your hair,
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  and then all of a sudden an idea hits you.
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  These are examples of how movement and motion have such a
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  strong connection to the brain. And while this specific
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  conversation might not be directly related to your impact
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  on a large scale, it's the type of micro impact in your daily
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  life that really makes you capable of learning and gaining
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  knowledge and allowing you to be effective and efficient and
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  putting you in a place where you have capacity for growth, which
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  we all know allows you to have a more positive, consistent impact
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  in the world. So while we don't have all the
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  answers to this, and while we are always, probably forever
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  more going to have computers and keyboards in our life, we will
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  always be typing out letters. I hope this inspires you to get
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  out of pen and paper every now and again and hand write a few
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  things. It really is a powerful tool for
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  reflection or working through a problem or an issue.
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  I ask my clients to do it, but I also do it for myself all the
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  time and I have to say, it's never failed me yet.
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  So I hope this helps. I hope you have a wonderful rest
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  of your week. Thank you for being here as
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  always and thank you for being ready to Impact team.
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  Thanks for listening to Impact Ready.
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  I hope today's episode inspired you to own your impact and
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  recognize that you are powerful. By elevating our energy and
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  awareness, we can create exponential change in this life.
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  If you enjoyed today's insights, share them with a friend and
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  subscribe to the show for more. I truly appreciate you.
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  Thanks again for being here.