Abstract
This study is the first to experimentally examine the potential health benefits of expressive letter writing. College students (N= 108) were randomly assigned to one of three letter–writing tasks. Experimental participants wrote a letter to a socially significant other who either helped or hurt them, whereas control participants wrote a letter to a school official regarding an impersonal relational topic. At follow–up, experimental participants reported greater sleep duration and fewer days of illness–related activity restriction compared to controls. In addition, participants who wrote a letter to an offending individual reported better sleep quality relative to controls. Psychosocial outcomes did not vary according to group assignment. Findings point to the potential sleep–related health benefits of expressive writing.
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