How Reading Can Help Improve Your Mental Health
Happy Eyes and A Healthy Mind
Reading allows us to have multiple lives without leaving our current place. We can time travel, meet different people, see multiple sceneries, and experience various emotions, all through several sheets of bound paper. Imagine all the places we can go for free! But as avid readers, why do we read?
Getting lost in a book is a good pastime, but did you know it helps improve our mental health? Continue reading to reap the benefits!
Reducing Stress, Unlocking Peace
Stress manifests in our waking world, affecting our mental health when it gets too much. We need a little relief to forget about a bad day. Reading is one way to do it, as it is a form of escapism, soothing us from worries. Doing this for as little as six minutes can alleviate tension. Plus, picking up a good book can help our mind escape to another world and shut everything out.
Finding what genre we like best will bring us to another world of our liking much easier. Having a novel on our hands provides us access to all the tools our imagination needs to build a good life — even if it’s fictional. But the books we enjoy don’t always have to be make-believe! If we find solace in the non-fictional, then so be it. Isn’t it great that we get to choose which world appeals to us the most? We can be excited knowing we get to travel to a place other than where our stress lies.
Cozying Up With A Book Before Bed
A good night’s rest helps achieve good overall health, which includes our mental well-being. But sometimes, staying asleep can be challenging. We keep our eyes closed, but our minds won’t stop racing! The next thing we know, our alarms are going off. Thus, the lack of sleep leaves us feeling tired the next day.
Having a bedtime routine that includes reading will help us get quality shut-eye. So, it’s time to switch up our evening buddy and say goodbye to scrolling through funny videos endlessly. Put down the phone and pick up a book! See how we can wind down and relax better before hitting the bed.
Since a good read helps relax the mind and wind down our body, we recommend starting with books with a lighter storyline if you don’t know what to pick up. They shouldn’t excite or frighten you too much, as you might read all night because of the thrill! Thus spiraling into the “last one chapter” promise that only leads to hours slipping by. We suggest rereading your favorite book to take away surprises and evoke the warm feeling of familiarity.
Mental Workout for the Brain
Reading is like a gym for the mind, maintaining a strong brain that aids our mental health.
Dreading class recitations, presentations, and job interviews? Opening a book helps us overcome these challenges! You probably heard, “The more you read, the more you know.” As reading stimulates the brain, it widens our vocabulary, enhances reading comprehension, and strengthens memory, leading to improved communication skills.
We’re in a digital age, so some of you would opt to browse online. That’s not a problem as long as it’s reading. But with more articles, stories, and poems lined up, ensuring digital screen time safety is a must! Anti-radiation lenses are surely going to be your newfound favorites. Thus, maintaining optimal eye health contributes to your well-being and help your mental health.
Improving Our Ability to Empathize
Traveling to other worlds through the four corners of a book explores various cultures and traditions. So, it doesn’t only make us smarter, but it also helps us be more empathetic.
Yes, we expand our knowledge on different topics that improve our analytical skills. But books also teach us new things about the world we haven’t encountered yet. They give us access to various life experiences and open opportunities to connect with characters. So, as we learn history, tradition, and everyday life, we recognize other parts of the world — exposing us to different ideas and perspectives.
Expanding Our Connections and Book Collections
Finishing a book means saying goodbye to the world it contains. But the good part is we get to travel to another place again. Keep reading, join a book circle, and tell other people about the stories you like. Enjoy every moment! A good book can take us wherever we please, anytime we want.
Enjoy reading more when you can clearly see the words. Visit any EO Executive Optical branch near you for quality reading glasses for men and women and a free eye checkup.
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