Yes, reading does help to reduce stress, in fact, it is a proven fact based on scientific research. However, many do not really think much of reading as a method of reducing stress after a hard day’s work.
After all, you already done a lot of reading throughout your day, so how can it be used as a stress relief?
Reading has its many benefits which virtually everyone who can read can agree to – apart from helping us to understand our environment and communicate, it is also very essential in developing out mental capacity and intelligence.
In addition to the benefits of reading to our cognition and comprehension, it also makes a very effective remedy for lack of sleep.
By opening a book, your consciousness is focused on another realm, depending on the type of book you are reading.
Reading fictional books have a strong effect on making us relaxed as most of our mental function is focused on creating images of what we are reading, in a bid to experience the story that is being read.
You are distracted from your surroundings and the stressors that are present; your muscle tension is eased and your heart rate is lowered.
As a matter of fact, reading works a lot faster and better than most relaxation methods, such as drinking a cup of tea or listening to music.
This is possible because reading tales your mind into a literary world that is free from the usual stress that you encounter on a daily basis.
Psychologists suggest that reading has this effect on humans because the mind needs to concentrate on the reading, therefore creating a distraction that helps to ease heart rate and muscle tension.
A 2009 research at the University of Sussex discovered that reading helps to reduce stress by up to 68 percent.
Cognitive neuropsychologist Dr. David Lewis, who conducted the test, said: “Losing yourself in a book is the ultimate relaxation.
He adds “This is particularly poignant in uncertain economic times when we are all craving a certain amount of escapism.
“It really doesn’t matter what book you read, by losing yourself in a thoroughly engrossing book you can escape from the worries and stresses of the everyday world and spend a while exploring the domain of the author’s imagination.
“This is more than merely a distraction but an active engaging of the imagination as the words on the printed page stimulate your creativity and cause you to enter what is essentially an altered state of consciousness.”
Reading a book for six minutes can do a lot to help you relax after a stressful day.
It is much better than depending on pain relievers or other remedies that might leave you with other long term health problems and dependency.
Reading is very affordable and you cannot really have too much of it.
The benefits of reading cannot be overstated.
Pick a book that you enjoy reading so that you can be in the right mood and eliminate stress.