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After a long day at work, or a week dealing with stresses left and right, there’s no better way to prepare for the future than to rest and recuperate with a variety of self-care methods. If you’re looking for something that reduces stress and helps you in a variety of ways, you should try reading.
By taking the time to sit down and read, whether it be a novel or a comic book, you can avoid burnout while developing aspects of yourself. To get you started on your next de-stressing hobby, here are four reasons why reading is the best self-care.
1. Reduces stress
One of the most profound benefits of self-care is that it reduces stress, which in turn prevents you from burning out whether from work or otherwise—and it is possible through reading. By giving you something else to focus on, reading takes your mind off your stressors, even if for a moment. You get to follow the story and problems of another and see how they resolve these issues, giving you an idea of how to deal with yours.
Furthermore, reading as a hobby has been found to actually relax the body through lower heart rate and easing the tension in muscles. A 2009 study conducted by the UK-based research company Mindlab International at the University of Sussex reveals that reading for as short as six minutes can reduce stress levels by up to 68%. The study reveals that this hobby works better and faster compared to other activities like listening to music or taking a walk.
With reading, you don’t have to pick out something prolific or popular. It can be anything that you like, something that gives you something to spend time on without further stressing yourself.
2. Helps you sleep better at night
Stress is one factor that affects sleep quality. Similarly, our collective habit of looking at televisions and smartphone screens has been found to affect our sleep since the artificial light stimulates our brain and makes our brain think that it’s still not time for bed. By switching to a traditional book on paper, you get to sleep easier and avoid all the health risks that come with sleep deprivation: increased blood sugar, risks of heart attack, and more.
Independent think-tank The Sleep Foundation reports that 35% of the adult population in the US sleep less than seven hours each night, with half of the population feeling sleepy from three to seven days a week. By giving yourself a much-needed de-stressing activity without the negative effects of artificial lighting through reading, you allow your body enough time to recuperate. Sleeping recovers damaged tissues, improves blood flow, and even allows your body to generate new and healthy cells—making sleep an important part of any skincare routine.
3. Protects you from neurodegenerative diseases
By making reading your go-to self-care routine, you give your brain a healthy exercise option that will pay for itself in the long term. Multiple studies have established a connection between stress and stress-related disorders and increased risks for neurodegenerative diseases. In one 2020 study released in JAMA Neurology, acute stress reaction and adjustment disorder, as well as PTSD, can lead to increased risks of dementia. Similarly, regular exertion of the brain by dealing with stress can also expose you to Alzheimer’s disease.
Reading, on the other hand, helps keep off these degenerative diseases by keeping your brain healthy. By giving your brain an opportunity to keep on absorbing new information—names of characters, descriptions of new places, events, and storylines to follow—your brain is stimulated and you’re given an incentive to memorize these details. Better yet, all these details are made available to you without the pressure of deadlines or committing errors. Like solving puzzles or playing chess, reading is a mental activity that keeps your brain healthy, which in return reduces your risks of having neurodegenerative disorders.
4. There are free and accessible options available
In this time and age, self-care is rapidly becoming a luxury not readily available for everyone. You might need to invest in specialized equipment, time, or money in order to get the de-stressing that you need. Books offer a cheaper alternative with a range of benefits to offer. If you have any readable material lying around, good. If not, you can always tap into your smartphone or your ereader to find material to read. Aside from books being available in digital formats, there are free online libraries available for you to access books without having to enroll in a regular subscription or pay for it
Actually, ebook readers are becoming a mainstay of the app market, allowing for a growing content library as well as different formats, each with its own advantages and disadvantages.
Conclusion
Regardless of how far technology has advanced, reading remains an appealing and important way of passing the time. It can open your mind to new things or give your mind something light and fun to focus on. More importantly, science is starting to uncover how this age-old activity, something as old as written language itself, benefits the human body. So, if you’re looking for a proven self-care method, look no further—grab a book and start reading.
I think this article is spot on! Thanks.