This One Stress-Relief Hack Can Be Found on Your Phone

Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsJournaling On-the-GoMaking To-Do ListsManaging TriggersKeeping “To-Look-Into” ListsMaking Joy Lists

Table of ContentsView All

View All

Table of Contents

Journaling On-the-Go

Making To-Do Lists

Managing Triggers

Keeping “To-Look-Into” Lists

Making Joy Lists

Between work demands, family obligations, and the million other priorities that vie for our attention, ourstresscan quickly spiral out of control. We know exercise, adequate sleep, a healthy diet, social support, and mindfulness practices can all help. But what if we told you that there’s anotherstress relief hack? One that is—quite literally—at your fingertips? Well, it turns out there is: the Notes app.

“What makes the Notes app particularly effective is that it’s always within reach,” she says. Most of usalready have our phones on hand, meaning we have unfettered access to the Notes app. You can easily use it to journal, jot down to-do lists, manage triggers, and more. Plus, it’s a practical resource for routine purposes like grocery lists and itineraries.

“This familiarity, combined with the ease and convenience, makes [the Notes app] a great option for capturing our thoughts and clearing out mental clutter,” Hilton says.

Ahead, you’ll find all the ways the Notes app can serve as an effective stress relief coping mechanism and how it can boost your well-being, too.

Coping Strategies for Stress

Journaling on the Go

It seems likeeveryone’stalking about journaling these days, and for good reasons.

Research supports the effectiveness ofjotting down our feelingsfor better mental health. A 2018 study reported that participants exhibited a decrease in mental distress, depressive symptoms, and anxiety symptoms after journaling for 15 minutes three days a week over 12 weeks. They also reported greater resilience and overall well-being.

Journaling in our Notes app doesn’t have to be complex or highly structured. Psychotherapist and mental health marketing expertEmily Mendez, MS, EdS,says a stream-of-consciousness process can be immensely helpful forreleasing negative thoughts and feelings. This can come in handy when we’re out and about (like running errands or hanging with friends) and putting pen to paper isn’t feasible.

“You don’t have to worry about what you’re writing,” Mendez says. “You simply write down what’s on your mind.”

Hilton adds that this tactic can allow us to let go of emotions before they intensify and worsen our stress. “When we don’t have a healthy outlet for our thoughts and feelings, they tend to metastasize further into overwhelm, resentment, or something else,” she says. “Journaling also helps us identify patterns in our thoughts, which leaves us feeling more grounded and in control.”

The Dangers of Bottling Up Our Emotions

To-do lists: we either love them or we hate them. But when used intentionally, they can benefit our emotional well-being versus becoming another looming stressor.

Consider making to-do lists in your Notes app for different areas of your life to avoidfeeling overwhelmed. For example, you might have one for work, one for household tasks, one for your personal life, and so on.

The Importance of Maintaining Structure and Routine During Stressful Times

However, it’s important to pause and collect ourselves before we say or do anything we might later regret. This is where writing down a response in the Notes app (before you say or send something) comes into play.

Yaranil Ferrer, LCSW, PMH-C,founder and CEO of Calma Counseling, says this approach gets our feelings out of our heads and regulates our system, so we can return to conversationless emotionally charged. This helps us “avoid impulsive responses that might contribute to making the problem bigger,” she adds.

“Sometimes it can be cathartic to write out exactly what we’re feeling in the heat of the moment before taking a beat to calm down,” says Hilton. This way, we can go back and refine our response, “so that our words align with how we actually want to communicate and show up in the situation.”

We live in a world with endless experiences to try: intriguing books to read, mouth-watering restaurants to try, catchy songs to listen to, etc. And our social media feeds just throw more at us! “There’s so much content out there,” Mendez says. “It can be hard to keep track of it all.”

Try a To-Look-Into List

Making “Joy Lists”

Gratitudeis one of the simplest yet most effective practices for boosting our well-being. According to Ferrer, creating joy can reduce our stress and lower our risk for certain mental health conditions.

Research supporting the health benefits of gratitude has been robust. A 2023 systematic review found a significant positive correlation between gratitude and self-reported measures of life satisfaction.A meta-analysis in “Psychological Bulletin” also found that gratitude is linked to prosociality, or behaviors we engage in to support others, which has its own myriad health benefits.

One way to reap the benefits of gratitude and joy is through“joy lists.”According to Hilton, these lists serve two purposes: they give us “a personalized collection of uplifting moments, which can be a powerful resource to revisit when we need a mood boost or a reminder of all the good in our lives.” They also train our brains to focus on what’s going well in life.

“Because our brains are so adaptable, the more we deliberately focus on the positives, the more our brains start to notice them automatically,” Hilton adds.

In time, engaging in this practice rewires our brain towardsoptimism, and joy becomes a natural emotion for us.

To start your own joy list, write down all that you’re grateful for in life, from the big things (i.e., family, friends, health) to the little pleasures (i.e., morning coffee, a favorite book, kind smiles from strangers). You can even consider making a list at the end of each day, week, or month.

Using Learned Optimism in Your Life

Conclusion

With the Notes app, relief from pressing worries is just a few taps away. Whether we use it to make “joy lists” or journal on the go, we can add it to our mental well-being toolkit.

It’s important to remember that excessive screen time—even when we’re using the Notes app as a stress reliever—can actually worsen our mental health and mess with our sleep.Be mindful of the time you’re spending on your devices, even if it’s time spent on uplifting activities. The Notes app is a great tool, but a good old journal works wonders too.

Journaling to Cope With Anxiety

4 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Smyth JM, Johnson JA, Auer BJ, Lehman E, Talamo G, Sciamanna CN.Online positive affect journaling in the improvement of mental distress and well-being in general medical patients with elevated anxiety symptoms: a preliminary randomized controlled trial.JMIR Mental Health. 2018;5(4):e11290. doi:10.2196/11290Kerry N, Chhabra R, Clifton JD.Being thankful for what you have: a systematic review of evidence for the effect of gratitude on life satisfaction.PRBM. 2023;16:4799-4816. doi:10.2147/PRBM.S372432Ma LK, Tunney RJ, Ferguson E.Does gratitude enhance prosociality?: A meta-analytic review.Psychol Bull. 2017;143(6):601-635. doi:10.1037/bul0000103Nakshine VS, Thute P, Khatib MN, Sarkar B. Increased Screen Time as a Cause of Declining Physical, Psychological Health, and Sleep Patterns: A Literary Review.Cureus. 2022;14(10):e30051. Published 2022 Oct 8. doi:10.7759/cureus.30051

4 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Smyth JM, Johnson JA, Auer BJ, Lehman E, Talamo G, Sciamanna CN.Online positive affect journaling in the improvement of mental distress and well-being in general medical patients with elevated anxiety symptoms: a preliminary randomized controlled trial.JMIR Mental Health. 2018;5(4):e11290. doi:10.2196/11290Kerry N, Chhabra R, Clifton JD.Being thankful for what you have: a systematic review of evidence for the effect of gratitude on life satisfaction.PRBM. 2023;16:4799-4816. doi:10.2147/PRBM.S372432Ma LK, Tunney RJ, Ferguson E.Does gratitude enhance prosociality?: A meta-analytic review.Psychol Bull. 2017;143(6):601-635. doi:10.1037/bul0000103Nakshine VS, Thute P, Khatib MN, Sarkar B. Increased Screen Time as a Cause of Declining Physical, Psychological Health, and Sleep Patterns: A Literary Review.Cureus. 2022;14(10):e30051. Published 2022 Oct 8. doi:10.7759/cureus.30051

Smyth JM, Johnson JA, Auer BJ, Lehman E, Talamo G, Sciamanna CN.Online positive affect journaling in the improvement of mental distress and well-being in general medical patients with elevated anxiety symptoms: a preliminary randomized controlled trial.JMIR Mental Health. 2018;5(4):e11290. doi:10.2196/11290Kerry N, Chhabra R, Clifton JD.Being thankful for what you have: a systematic review of evidence for the effect of gratitude on life satisfaction.PRBM. 2023;16:4799-4816. doi:10.2147/PRBM.S372432Ma LK, Tunney RJ, Ferguson E.Does gratitude enhance prosociality?: A meta-analytic review.Psychol Bull. 2017;143(6):601-635. doi:10.1037/bul0000103Nakshine VS, Thute P, Khatib MN, Sarkar B. Increased Screen Time as a Cause of Declining Physical, Psychological Health, and Sleep Patterns: A Literary Review.Cureus. 2022;14(10):e30051. Published 2022 Oct 8. doi:10.7759/cureus.30051

Kerry N, Chhabra R, Clifton JD.Being thankful for what you have: a systematic review of evidence for the effect of gratitude on life satisfaction.PRBM. 2023;16:4799-4816. doi:10.2147/PRBM.S372432

Ma LK, Tunney RJ, Ferguson E.Does gratitude enhance prosociality?: A meta-analytic review.Psychol Bull. 2017;143(6):601-635. doi:10.1037/bul0000103

Nakshine VS, Thute P, Khatib MN, Sarkar B. Increased Screen Time as a Cause of Declining Physical, Psychological Health, and Sleep Patterns: A Literary Review.Cureus. 2022;14(10):e30051. Published 2022 Oct 8. doi:10.7759/cureus.30051

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Journaling on the Go#

Try a To-Look-Into List#

Making “Joy Lists”#

Conclusion#

Journaling on the Go

Try a To-Look-Into List

Making “Joy Lists”

Conclusion