Reading and mental health

Having to check books and articles off your reading list can be daunting. However, reading and specifically reading for pleasure have actually been shown to have a lot of benefits for your mental health and wellbeing, some of which are listed below.

Reduces stress – Books are often considered therapeutic for their effect on anxiety and worrying, which can be reduced by 60% with as little as six minutes a day of diving into a good narrative. Reading can give you what other recreational means like television, music, video games, or even a walk in the park cannot, and that is escapism, the power to create your own imaginary world. Being able to control the story like this can give you a great satisfaction and will definitely help you release some of the tension that you have built up throughout the year working on assignments and studying for exams. You can also return to a favourite book if you’re running out of inspiration as you’re already aware that re-reading it will take you all the way back to your ‘happy place’.

Brings order to your thoughts – The narrative structure in books can actually help you clear your head and bring more order to all those thoughts running through your mind. Although at first it might seem that reading is just a sweet distraction from all your stress and worries, the change in focus and the logic behind the plotline can help you organise your own ideas more easily, offer a new angle on your problems, allowing you to reach a solution more quickly.

Keeps your memory sharp – Picking up a book regularly over your lifetime has been proven to stimulate your brain and slow down memory loss. Studies have shown that cognitive activities like reading and writing can reduce mental decline by 32%. The brain works similarly to a muscle and you need to keep it fit through regular exercise. So next time you feel like you’d rather skip the reading and leave it for another time, remember you need the training to keep your memory sharp as a tack for longer.

Teaches you how to deal with different issues – Reading will help you learn more about yourself and others. Whether it’s through fiction or non-fiction, books are written by people, for people, and authors will often talk about their (or their characters’) experiences with the difficulties they’ve encountered in life. They might give you a solution to your own problems that you’ve never thought of or they might just show you how not to approach your issues. By offering so many perspectives, books can normalise what you might have been scared to admit and help you process what you’re going through better. Reading can also make you more understanding of other people as it gives you the opportunity to see the world through their eyes and empathise with them.

Makes you ‘smarter’ – Books making you smarter might sound like a cliché, but it doesn’t mean it’s not true. Reading always leads to you finding out about something you’ve never heard of before or are less familiar with, but want to explore further. Once you get the ‘bug’, your curiosity will make you want to know more and more about your new discovery. The learning process will be triggered almost automatically, especially because you are looking into something you are personally interested in. You never know when this knowledge will come in handy, maybe it will be useful during your studies or later in life, but it will definitely help you see the world with different eyes. Reading can also develop your vocabulary and your verbal skills.  

Is writing the next step? What you might also pick up from reading is that writing is a great way to process what you’re going through and might be the best outlet for any emotional issues. Writing doesn’t necessarily involve publishing your innermost thoughts and concerns, or even showing them to someone. If you feel tempted to put words on paper, give it a go and see if it helps you clear your mind. Try to be as honest as possible with yourself. You might even notice that your worries are actually manageable once you have them laid out in black and white.

Amalia Mihailescu, Student Adviser