New Scientist: Dear diary, you make me sick
A small study has found that writing a diary does in fact reduce overall health. Apparently the cathartic effect isn't very useful. The same authors did a study a few years back (Written Emotional Expression and Well-Being: Result From a Home-Based Study, The Australasian Journal of Disaster and Trauma Studies, Vol 2002-1) that showed a short-term worsening of health after writing about emotional or personal events but a long-range slight improvement. This study seems to suggest that the continual writing in a diary only gets the bad effect.
This suggests to me that I'm doing the right thing in just blogging about interesting intellectual pursuits rather than my personal life - besides keeping the noosphere free from junk (in my case happy-stressed junk) it keeps me healthy. Let's see if I get a cold from that last parenthesis.
Posted by Anders at September 9, 2004 09:23 AMYou seem above to have attracted the attention of something nasty...
You tend to blog about what you've read or places you've visited. Please consider blogging about your musical preferences. For instance, why do you like L. Van Beethoven and Vangelis and Vacuum and VNV Nation? The playlists from your various worldbuiling exercises suggest some common appeal.
You might also blog about what books you'd like to read, or what books you wish more people read.
Posted by: Jay Dugger at September 14, 2004 11:21 PM