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Pediatric neurologist shares 3 easy and effective journaling techniques to fix mental clutter
Do you feel like your brain is constantly juggling a million things? Like your mind is on overload and you cannot focus? Between the effects of scrolling social media, navigating the 24/7 news cycle, and managing work and family life, your brain can easily feel overwhelmed.
Even when you have quiet moments of calm, your mind might still feel too cluttered to get your thoughts in order. However, according to pediatric neurologist Dr. Arif Khan, there is an old-school solution to that problem with modern science to back it up: journaling. Khan goes a step further by sharing three specific techniques and the neuroscience behind why they help.
“In brain scans, something remarkable happens when people write about their feelings,” Khan says in a YouTube video. “The regions for motion and the regions for reasoning begin to synchronize, as if the brain is learning to talk to itself. That is the hidden power of journaling. It’s not just reflection. It’s neurological repair.”
Khan explains that when you write, your prefrontal cortex—the brain area that helps with planning and analysis—begins to communicate with your amygdala, the brain’s emotional reaction center. He cites a 2021 Stanford University study, which demonstrated that expressive writing can help your brain recover from stress.
“The mid-cingulate cortex, which usually fires under emotional pressure, becomes calmer and more coordinated,” says Khan. “And when you put emotions into words, the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex turns on, helping to quiet the amygdala. This process is called affect labeling; it allows you to feel without drowning in the feeling.”
Writing by hand matters, Khan adds.
“A 2023 study in Frontiers in Psychology showed that handwriting activates more areas of the brain than typing,” he says. “When your hand moves with your thoughts, that is, the mind slows down just enough to make sense of itself.”
Here are three journaling techniques Khan recommends to reduce brain clutter:
Technique #1: Expressive writing
Expressive writing, a technique developed by psychologist James Pennebaker, involves writing about something you feel strongly about.
“Think about something you still carry—a disappointment, a loss, a moment that lingers longer than it should,” Khan says. Then write about it for 15 to 20 minutes.
“Don’t worry about grammar,” he adds. “Don’t edit. Don’t write for anyone else. Write until you run out of words.”
Expressive writing helps the brain process emotions. Photo credit: Canva
Khan says this technique is effective because the brain treats emotional suppression as “unfinished work.”
“Studies show that after expressive writing, the brain’s emotional centers quiet down while cognitive control increases,” he explains. “Your body feels lighter because your mind has stopped trying to contain what it has finally released. You might cry. You might feel tired. You might want to stop halfway. That’s okay. Healing requires a small amount of discomfort before calm returns.”
Technique #2: Gratitude journaling
Gratitude journals aren’t new, but Khan explains how and why they work from a neurological point of view.
Instead of writing about what’s troubling you, write down two or three things you’re grateful for. It could be anything, but stay specific. (Khan gives examples like “the smell of rain,” “a message from a friend that came at just the right time,” or “a meal that made you feel safe.”)
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“Gratitude journaling doesn’t force positivity,” says Khan. “It retrains your attention. Neuroscientists have found that practicing gratitude activates the ventral striatum and the medial prefrontal cortex regions that regulate mood and motivation. When you do this daily, you teach your brain to look for what is stable instead of what is threatening.”
Khan says gratitude journaling “tunes your nervous system towards balance.” Rather than erasing struggle, it helps you see beyond it.
Technique #3: Reflective reframing
Reflective reframing journaling focuses on a specific incident and helps you work through it. Khan says to think of a challenge you’ve had and write about it plainly. No judgment, just write what happened. Then write down:
What it meant.
What it revealed.
What it taught you.
One small action you can take the next time something like that happens.
Emotion regulation is like other skills: it takes practice.After 2 weeks of daily journaling to reframe unpleasant events, depression dropped, life satisfaction rose, and the benefits lasted at least a month.The best way to improve at managing emotions is to do it more often. pic.twitter.com/vt2JQ6aMWe— Adam Grant (@AdamMGrant) June 27, 2024
“This pattern strengthens the prefrontal regions that regulate emotional reactivity,” Khan says. “It builds the ability to pause and reinterpret before reacting. You learn to step back—not to detach, but to understand. Over time, this practice reshapes resilience itself. You begin to see difficulties not as failures, but as data points for growth. That subtle shift changes how your brain responds to future stress.”
Journaling rewires the brain over time
Khan says you don’t have to use all three journaling techniques every day.
“Think of journaling as mental cross training,” he says. “Use expressive writing when emotions feel heavy. Use gratitude journaling when you feel numb or distant. Use reflective reframing when life feels confusing. Each practice strengthens a different circuit of awareness.”
Khan says that journaling isn’t just self-expression but self-construction. While it can help in the moment, the real power is the change that happens over weeks or months. “You pause longer before reacting. You remember more clearly. You recover more quickly,” says Khan.
Journaling has genuinely changed my life.I used to think it was just another trend people hype up for a few weeks and move on from. But it works like magic, and the reason is surprisingly simple: it reduces cognitive load.If you are someone who deeply cares about everything,…— Tanya Rajhans (@tanyarajhans7) February 9, 2026
People in the comments of Khan’s video shared their own experiences with how journaling has impacted their lives:
“I’ve done all these. I’m 68 now, and I’ve been journaling since I was 13. I have all of these journals. It is all very true and tried out. Today, people ask me how do I live my life so well. This is one of the secrets…..”
“This is fascinating. When I was about 12, I had a teacher who made us keep journals, and we would write about a given promt for 10 minutes at the start of each class. On the days when we wrote about something negative/stressful, she always told us to just keep writing until every single word we had about the topic had drained out. Sounds like we were actually doing technique #1!”
“I recently went thru a 12 year relationship breakup. I felt so bad , like no pain I had ever experienced before. After two weeks of this agony I started a journal and wrote whatever came into my mind including my diet. Now, a month and a half later I have stopped daily entries and my anxiety has dropped from 100 pc every day for a month to almost zero. I write as I feel the need. What an amazing insight this video has given me.”
People testify to the old-school power of journaling. Photo credit: Canva
“I have survived and thrived by doing this kind of journaling since 1996 when my husband left me with our three wonderful children (thank God for them!). I highly recommend writing as often as you can on both good and bad days.”
“I’m 27. I’ve been journaling since 16/17. I can honestly say it’s gotten me out some pretty dark places. All types a writing, expressing, pain, gratitude, to God, to my future self, it all helps. Writing and journaling are a lost art. I hope more people get in tune with themselves a little more and open up to writing and journaling. It’s a beautiful experience.”
“I started to write about my life at 75, mainly for my children, grandchildren and future generations. I have to say that getting all the hurt, upset, sorrows and jubilation has given me peace at last.”
You can follow Dr. Khan’s The Brain Project channel on YouTube for more neuroscience info.
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