What Your Handwriting Can Reveal About Your Health

Signs of our individual health can be found everywhere. In our grocery carts, on our fitness tracking apps, and in our medicine cabinets. There is also a one of a kind personal trait that holds surprising clues to our health. We're talking about your handwriting. According to experts at Medical Daily, our handwriting can reveal thousands of character traits as they pertain to our personality. In the medical field, graphology — the study and analysis of handwriting — can also be used to help diagnose and track specific diseases. However, it's important to note that this analysis serves as a general overview and does not apply to everyone's unique and specific health situations.

Visually gives some examples of how penmanship can be an indicator of certain medical conditions. For instance, writing with fluctuating pressure could be a sign of high blood pressure. This is especially true when one's writing goes from faint to heavy in appearance. Additionally, the direction of a slant in a certain word or letter can serve as a possible indicator of schizophrenia, as it can be a telling sign about one's perception of reality.

But the handwriting interpretations don't stop there. Small cramped writing, also known as micrographia, that leaves little room between words has been seen in many who have been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. Alzheimer's disease has shown to deteriorate handwriting, leading to shaky penmanship and altered letters or words (via Visually).

However, not all handwriting signs are markers of serious medical conditions, says Medical Daily. Rather, some signs may be more indicative of personality traits. For example, the pressure at which you press pen to paper can signify energy levels. Ink that has been pressed heavily to paper is often done by those more energetic than those who apply lighter pressure, a sign that someone may be fatigued.

Our handwriting was once used purely as a method of communication. Insider says that today, the interpretation of one's handwriting is being used in a number of different ways. From criminal investigations, to the hiring of new employees, to tracking our health, who knew a pen or pencil could tell so much?