Saturday the 23rd April, will be the 11th Annual World Book Night! This event is entirely dedicated to encouraging more people to try and read more.
Can reading be a good way of helping with your mental health?
Reading a book can often be a great way of helping you with your mental health and distract you from the things that might be causing you stress. Whether that be diving in to a massive fantasy world, or maybe a more informative book following an interest of yours.
Back in 2009, a study was done measuring the effects of yoga, humour and reading on the stress levels of students in demanding health science programs in the US. Throughout this study it was found that 30 minutes of reading lowered blood pressure, heart rate and feeling psychological distress to the same levels of yoga and humour!
This is because several different reasons.
It can enable you to practise mindfulness in losing yourself within the pages and delving into something that truly interests you instead of focusing on the more stressful things going on in your life.
Additionally, it also helps keeping the brain learning new things whether that be information or new vocabulary which can often bring along with it positive implications for mental health and overall wellbeing of the reader.
Reading can also be a shared hobby with the people around you and give you something to talk about with a friend or family member. Sometimes just even having a nice thing to talk about for a short period of time can be a great boost for mental health.
So this World Book Night, let’s all try and read something, even if just for half an hour!
What is your favourite book?
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