Not so long ago, it was an academic demand that all students submit hand-written works as opposed to type-written ones. For most young learners it was just another weird whim of their instructor but they had no choice but to obey. This could be the end of the story, but science has since proven that writing by hand has much more to offer to our brains than it seems.
For example, the recent study by professor Audrey van der Meer, who used the latest technology to examine students’ brain activity, says that writing by hand equals better learning. If you want to know how it works and how it can help you while you study, read on with insights from Writepaper!
Writing by Hand vs Typing: The Main Differences
Did you ever hear older people say that pushing computer buttons isn’t the same as writing “for real”? Well, turns out, they are right! According to scientists, handwriting is good training for our neuromotorics, which is about the relationship between our movements and brain activity. More complicated movements and letters with fine details mean better cerebral fitness. Still, the real question is, how can this activity help students in college?
For starters, you remember things better when you write them by hand. All the extra movements you make pay off in that your brain uses them as tokens to remember words by. As a result, you’ll spend less time preparing for classes and exams in the future.
What’s more, mental exercise makes you think faster and connect the dots without hesitation. In other words, you can combine personal development with studying every time you choose a pen over a keyboard. If you spend less time accomplishing more, you’ll become efficient. This quality will definitely help you with practical tasks like getting a job.
So, if you’ve googled “writing by hand vs typing” to see which one’s better for studies, handwriting wins. The recent studies confirm that this is the best way to take notes, even if you’re a fast typer.
Psychological Benefits of Writing by Hand
Aside from the rational elements, handwriting has an emotional context, too. To see it with your own eyes, you can try writing a sentence or two while you’re full of energy in the morning and then copying those words before you go to bed after a hard day. While your handwriting will stay the same, you’ll notice that the letters look a bit clearer and more “confident” when you have more strength and a better mood.
In any kind of school or university, you’ll notice changes in your handwriting as your studies progress. Among other things, those changes will represent the evolution of your character. For instance, the letters will become a bit bigger and more defined as you get more confident. There’s an entire science dedicated to studying such correlations that’s called graphology.
Still, there are some moments when our handwriting can only reflect complete fatigue. That’s completely fine except students don’t always have an opportunity to rest from endless tasks.
Luckily, for such cases, there’s CustomWritings which is a professional essay service that’s always ready to provide students with quality custom writing assistance. Whether you need an original essay in English, or a research paper written from scratch, this website is among the best helpers you could ever find online.
How Writing by Hand Upgrades Your Brain
The benefits of writing by hand don’t end at memorizing things better. After all, students are people too, so they do more than pore over books in their everyday life. Here’s how handwriting can help you in whatever you do.
- Refining your ideas. Whether you write academic essays or creative tales, texts always benefit from going over them in detail. And this is exactly what happens when you type your handwritten text on the computer to transfer it to a different format. Try doing this with a single paragraph, and you’ll be surprised by how many details you’ll want to change and how many mistakes will suddenly become more noticeable. Simply put, handwriting allows you to use your skills on the maximum level.
- Teaching you patience. Handwriting is beneficial, that’s true, but this process definitely takes up more of your time than typing. This means that you’ll have to be disciplined to take some of your creative activities to the traditional medium. At the end of the day, you’ll surely develop more patience. And that’s a good thing to use in all spheres of your life.
- Helping you deal with stress. Writing by hand is about continuous and repetitive physical actions. For many people, it can be counted as stimming, which is the process that stabilizes your thinking processes and calms you down when you’re feeling nervous. That’s a pleasant bonus, don’t you think?
Precautions to Take When Changing How You Write
Let’s be honest here. Despite all the writing by hand benefits, not many modern students can remember when they last held a pen. This fact implies that they’ll have to change their habits if they choose to use handwriting while creating their academic papers. Naturally, there are several things you can do to make this process as painless as possible.
First things first, get a good pen. A quill that’s really comfortable to write with might be worth an extra buck or two, but that’s quite fair. You need a tool of optimal length and width not to overstrain your hand. After all, the writing process is pretty long, so it might as well be enjoyable.
Secondly, mind your lighting. Our eyes are used to bright screens nowadays, so you need to get a bright lamp to illuminate your notebook. Don’t test your handwriting skills by creating your texts under dim light because the long-term consequences of this approach can be grievous.
Third, it’s never too late to try alternatives. For example, you can write by hand using your tablet and a stylus if a fully traditional way doesn’t suit you. The key process is outlining every letter, so the digital medium won’t change much in this case.
Writing Should Primarily Be Comfortable
As you can see, writing by hand is a great way to enhance your learning process, making it more efficient without a great deal of effort. Sure, you might get a callus on your middle finger, but that’s a comparably small price to pay for remembering things faster and knowing grammar and spelling much better.
Still, you have to get used to this activity and make sure that it doesn’t make your head hurt. Spend an extra dollar on a new pen or a good lamp if you need them before you begin writing in the new way. After all, you need to be comfortable if you want to be efficient.