Ever crack open a book and feel like you’re being transported to another world? This is the magic of reading! It’s not just a form of entertainment and learning (though it definitely delivers on both!). There are studies that show how diving into a good book can actually boost your health in surprising ways. Let’s explore how!
Reduced Stress
According to a study published in 2020, engaging in recreational reading is an easy and affordable tool to help college students cope with mental health problems. In the study, 231 university students reduced psychological distress over the school year through recreational reading. It appeared to buffer against the frustration of one’s basic psychological needs, leading to improved mental health over the school year. Reading engages your mind and ignites your creativity, allowing you to be swept away by the story unfolding in the pages while being a meditative activity that forces you to focus on a single task to reduce stress.
Help Falling Asleep
Falling asleep and staying asleep can be hard for many people. Sleeping disorders are fairly common among people. For many, practicing sleep hygiene can be the first step to achieving better sleep. Reading a physical book is a great addition to your bedtime routine. The Sleep Foundation shares that reading before bed releases muscle tension and slows the heart, allowing the body to relax. They also state it calms the mind and is an ideal alternative to screen time. Additionally, reading books to children before bed also helps them fall asleep and stay asleep and have improved behavior, health, and language development.
Increase Empathy
In 2013, a study explored how reading fiction influences empathy. The PLoS One study found that readers who get truly absorbed in a story experience a boost in empathy. They state that high transportation led to increased empathy among fiction readers but only under the condition of low or high emotional transportation into the story. The study also revealed that a lack of transportation into the story can lead to decreased empathy. The Scientific Study of Literature published Reading Other Minds: Effects of Literature on Empathy in 2013, where they found that participants who read a short story and were low on openness experienced a significant increase in self-reported cognitive empathy. The participants who frequently read fiction had higher scores on the non-self-report measure of empathy.
Cognition and Life Longevity
Reading not only helps reduce stress, help you achieve sleep, and influence your empathy level but it also is connected with living a longer life. A 2014 study published in Science Direct dives into the cognitive benefits of reading. The study found that people who read books regularly had a 20% lower mortality rate compared to those who didn’t read novels. They noted that those who read novels have a more significant survival advantage when compared to those who read periodicals. The study suggests it’s the deep focus reading provides that keeps your mind sharp, which might be the real survival advantage.