Reading is good for you!
Effective
Losing yourself in a book can have a profound impact on body and mind, akin to entering an altered state of consciousness. The effect is rapid, too. After reading for just six minutes, the average person’s stress levels fall by two-thirds as the mind is taken away from its habitual thoughts and the body relaxes. Reading works can relax you even faster than listening to music.
Fast
Reading for pleasure for just 30 minutes a week is associated with increased life satisfaction, higher self-esteem, better sleep, more creativity and happiness. It helps us rediscover all of who we are, as we recognise feelings and situations faced by characters, reminding us of our common humanity and helping us remember and reconnect to all that we are and not just those aspects of ourselves we feel reduced to by the doubts and anxieties of the moment.
Social
Reading can also help you socialise more effectively. Reading expands your vocabulary, encourages you to practice empathising with characters and gives you more interesting things to talk about helping you connect more easily and deeply with others.
“Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world.”
Voltaire
Assistant Librarian (Promotions) at the University Library. An enthusiastic advocate of libraries, diversity, inclusion, equity, and social justice for all, inside and outside the workplace.
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