As readers, we know how amazing reading is. It’s fun, it opens our minds to new possibilities and things we’ve never considered, allows us to experience things secondhand, and so much more. But reading can also help us heal our minds, whether we’re overworked or struggling with mental illness.
Reduces Stress
Reading is proven to reduce stress — though that probably depends on the type of book and reader preferences. Reading helps us physically by easing muscle tension and slowing our heart rate, which in turn helps our minds relax. It’s hard to relax if we’re tense or our body is working too hard, which can cause stress for the mind.
Reading also reduces mental stress. Being constantly stressed is terrible for the mind and body, which can cause a host of health issues ranging from insomnia to digestive troubles to depression. A healthy body creates a healthy mind, but it also works the other way around.
Offers A Chance to Sit Down and Relax
This is similar to the above point, but not quite the same. We all need a break sometimes, and reading a book is the perfect time to sit down and chill. Regardless of how you read, whether it’s physical, electronic, or audio, nothing beats curling up and getting lost in a story for hours.
Taking a break improves our ability to focus, think clearly and creatively, and can help us solve our problems by giving us time to focus on something relaxing. Our brain recharges when we slow down, so it works better and faster when we take regular breaks. It’s easier said than done, but it’s more beneficial in the end.
Serves as a Distraction
Have you ever been overwhelmed, whether it be by external or internal factors, and just needed to think about something else, just for a little while? Let’s be real, we’ve all used reading as an escape from time to time. It can’t solve our problems, but at least we won’t be constantly thinking about them on an endless loop.
Of course, it’s important to try and solve our problems if we can, which will help rid us of stress. But, if it’s a struggle we can’t fix, or something that will take a long time to remedy, there’s not much we can do about being stressed over it. As mentioned, reading can’t solve our problem, but taking our minds off of stress by reading, even just for a short while, helps our brain recover and helps us feel more positive. And we’ll have the right mindset and/or energy to tackle our problem, or at least continue pushing through it.
Gives You a New Perspective
It’s hard to understand another perspective, especially if it’s something you’ve never been through. Books can help us understand other groups’ or individuals’ points of view, particularly through first person narration or first-hand accounts. We can learn more about others, but we can also learn more about ourselves, or see how characters facing similar struggles find ways to resolve or cope with their issues.
It’s refreshing to see characters experience what we’ve gone through; it’s honestly so validating, and it makes us feel seen. And if we see how they handle it, maybe it can give us ways to figure out how to deal with our struggles. Or, at the very least, it can give us hope. After all, hope is stronger than fear, despair, anger, and other negative emotions.
Helps You Connect to Others
Book clubs are one of the best things related to reading. Getting to discuss books you like or dislike with others who’ve read them is so fun, and sometimes you can get new recommendations, too. Learning new perspectives from others, being social, and having a great time are things we all need — even us introverts.
Loneliness is a huge epidemic, especially for those who struggle to make friends and other connections. Book clubs give us not only a reason to gather together, but also give us a way to connect without awkward and stilted conversation that never goes anywhere. The other people in the club can also provide support, and even just knowing we have people to turn to makes us feel more at ease.
There are countless ways that books help and heal us, and even more on why we should keep reading. So get grab your newest/favorite book and get to it!
Click here for an article on books that will pick you up.
Check out our Bookstr Recs shelf on Bookstr’s Bookshop page.
