How Writing By Hand Improves Your Memory

While we live in a new era where you spend most of your time typing, it may be a good idea to get back to your origins.

Writing by hand is seen by many as a thing of the past. But is it really? The truth is that according to experts, you should through away your old notebooks yet. After all, writing by hand can deliver huge benefits, especially for your memory.

 

Improving Your Memory

 

 

When you are handwriting, you need to coordinate fine movement systems as well as verbal systems. In addition, when you are attending a class at school or in a meeting at work, you need to take notes. However, you don’t write everything you are listening, word by word. Instead, you write down the main concepts and summaries. The main reason why you do this when you are writing by hand is that you tend to be slower when you are writing by hand then when you are typing. Ultimately, when you are writing by hand, you are encoding the information that you are listening to which ends up making your memory richer.

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Why Should You Write By Hand

 

 

The truth is that there are some colleges and universities encouraging students to take notes by hand instead of using their laptops. After all, this can help them not only having better grades but it can also help them in the longer-term since they are training their memory.

According to Jared Hovarth, from University of Melbourne’s Science of Learning Research Center, “Because you can’t possibly write everything [the lecturer is saying], you have to write in a style that allows you to get maximum information from minimum output.”

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How Your Memory Works

 

Since when you are writing by hand you won’t be able to write 100 words, you will only write 10. So, your memory will need to help you choose the ten key facts or words. This is the way your memory has to summarize the information. So, you will be processing the information that you are listening to at a deeper level. After all, you aren’t only listening to what is being said during the class or the meeting as you have identified the most important keys within it, and how it all links together.

 

 

On the other hand, when you are simply typing your notes, you will be able to write a lot faster. However, since your memory isn’t really processing the information or connecting to it, you won’t be so focused. So, later on, you will have to review what you have written more carefully. This will take you a lot longer to figure out all the connections and links.

Another aspect that helps you organize your ideas better when you are writing by hand is related to the fact that you don’t always go straight as when you are writing. When you are writing by hand you will need to go up and down, circling, and even drawing lines backward. And this is this kind of organization of the information that your mind does that helps you better interpret it.

While typing and using a computer is incredibly important for some tasks since it allows you to do a more efficient and faster job, you shouldn’t forget about the benefits of writing by hand.