Reading is the best thing for my mental health at the start of school: How it might help you too.
I can get lost in a book for hours. I love picking up a book, feeling its weight in my hands and flipping through the grainy pages. As the leaves begin to fall to the ground and our sweaters get thicker, we return to Carleton. While the school and its activities are amazing, schoolwork piles up quickly. Going into my second year, gone is the leniency of professors who wanted a smooth integration for first years.
As I entered into the second week of school, I realized I already had five assignments due in the next two weeks and I started to panic. Then, I remembered my greatest tool for keeping my mental well-being: reading. While reading is an amazing hobby and a way to enjoy ourselves, it is also scientifically backed to be very good for mental wellbeing. In my opinion, these are the top five ways reading helps keep me happy and healthy:
- Reading for Relaxation
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Let’s be real, school is stressful, especially near the beginning. Experiencing more stress or anxiety when starting a new school year is something that I and many others experience. Integrate reading into your daily schedule to relax from a stressful day. Personally, I like to read at 11:00 pm so I can be asleep before midnight. During my reading time, I always prepare a cup of tea and wear fluffy reading socks (especially during the fall season). Sometimes, I put on a hydrating sheet mask while I read, to rejuvenate my skin while I rejuvenate my mind.
My book recommendations for when you want to feel relaxed are contemporary novels or romances, such as Taylor Jenkins Reid’s The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo or Hannah Grace’s Icebreaker.
- Read to distract
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When emotions become too overwhelming, distraction is a great tool to be able to calm yourself before facing the problem at hand. Or, if you find yourself unable to wind down after a busy day of classes, distraction can also be a great tool. Picking up a book that will still make your mind focus on it is a great way to do so.
If you are able to read books with heavier topics, I recommend Girl on the Train by Tate Taylor or The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. The depths of these books are always sure to distract me.
- better sleep
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Raise your hand if you scroll before bed:🙋♀️
I am definitely guilty of getting trapped scrolling on Instagram or Netflix before bed. However, blue light emissions from your screen make it more difficult to fall asleep and stay asleep. The light from screens upsets your natural circadian rhythm, which sees the light from your phone screen and determines that it is daytime. Consider putting away your phone an hour before bed and reading instead for your before-bed entertainment to get a break from the screens.
Before bed, reading any book will give your eyes and brain a break from screens and allow you to wind down for bed. Remember to also turn off any bright fluorescent lights when reading before bed and use the light from a lamp to read to make your sleep even better!
- helping with school readings
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How can reading fiction books support you in reading academic articles and essays for school? Even when reading books for entertainment, you are training your focus and attention span. Social media platforms can drain our attention spans with their short clips and videos, so practicing focusing for lengthy periods of time on books will assist you in focusing on school readings.
To train your focus, I recommend reading longer books. One of my favourite lengthy options is romantasy series Crescent City by Sarah J. Mass.
- INCREASES KNOWLEDGE and creativity
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Have you ever heard the term “lifelong learner?” Reading is the perfect way to continue enhancing our knowledge throughout our lives. Reading expands our vocabulary and teaches us about new topics. It plants the seeds of imagination and creativity in our minds, helping us to become better writers and students. Even when writing essays, creativity can help to create interesting arguments and use more vivid language.
To boost creativity, try a poetry book like save me an orange by Haley Grace. Grace paints a beautiful literary picture with the creative use of words in her poetry.
Evidently, there are endless benefits to the ancient practice of simply reading a book! Whether you choose to buy, loan a book from a library, or read online, any form of reading and any book can help you destress and exercise your brain. Reading has the power to transport you to another word from a monotonous one: its most significant benefit to mental health actually lies in its enjoyment.