Experts who study handwriting say that it could contain clues about your physical and mental health. They claim that the way you write, also known as graphology, details in the shape of the letters, and the spacing between words, can be used to detect diseases and aid in the diagnosis. In fact, it can observe more than 5,000 personality traits, and can tell if you are suffering from ailments such as high blood pressure, Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia, and Parkinson’s disease.

To disseminate this useful news, the National Pen Company compiled a step-by-step guide to help you understand what your handwriting is telling you about the state of your health. To track diseases, its important to consider variables such as the direction of writing the letters, the pressure exerted on writing, and the spaces used between letters. For example, when the pressure used fluctuates and shows both light and dark handwriting, this indicates high blood pressure  .

On the other hand, when the letters look irregular and shaky, this likely means you have Alzheimer's disease. The disease is marked with deterioration of mental faculties and so aside from the trembling letters, writing will also slow down. In schizophrenia, letters in the same sentence are frequently slanting in different directions.

In Parkinson's disease , writing looks cramped and very small to the point that even the writer can't read them, researchers say. Additionally, it can also determine how high your energy levels are. If the writing appears dark or shows through to the back of the paper, this indicates high energy, while light pressure indicates tiredness.

Interestingly, those who take notes with a pen and paper rather than using a laptop are likely to have a sharper memory, better critical thinking and conceptual understanding skills. Although used by many companies to assess recruits, critics of handwriting call it a pseudoscience as scientific explanation surrounding the accuracy of identifying physical and mental health problems is not clear.