Please help me test my hypothesis. I have a hunch that note-taking and note-taking correlates with people's levels of depression. My guess is that those who have a habit of writing everything down may, on average, be less unhappy.

Robert Sapolsky has a video on the topic of depression - in it, he talks about how antidepressants work. The most studied drugs regulate the mechanisms by which the brain regulates processes associated with the release and absorption of neurotransmitters. Very roughly, neurotransmitters are our “thought fuel” that we use to think. If you think a lot, the “thought fuel” runs out and the so-called ego depletion. We're starting to get dumb. To restore mental fuel, we need rest.

Large volumes of information cause increased consumption of “thought fuel,” causing exhaustion more quickly. Taking notes can reduce the load on our brain by shifting part of the function of memorizing and structuring information to external media. This means the brain uses fewer neurotransmitters, allowing it to do more. This makes a person more productive. This means that, in theory, this should also affect our level of depression or happiness. And if so, then it can be checked. For example, if you add a few additional questions related to note-taking to the Oxford happiness questionnaire, you can try to find a correlation in the answers. If there is a correlation, then people who take notes will, on average, be happier. Or they won’t, in case of reverse correlation.

If there is no correlation, then there is no trial. Either way, if the result turns out to be statistically significant, it would be a strong argument for why note-taking can help people who work in IT not only become more productive, but also happier. It may turn out that productivity is not about doing more, but about being happier.

Please help confirm or refute this hypothesis. There are only 35 questions in this questionnaire, and it should not take you much time. Thank you in advance!

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