I have suffered from anxiety since the age of eight. At ten, I would obsessively check weather apps, scared of thunderstorms preventing me from sleeping at night. At thirteen, I couldn’t fall asleep due to an extreme fear of dying. At sixteen, I couldn’t form healthy friendships due to fear of rejection. But today, my anxiety doesn’t prevent me from sleeping or talking. Now I read to keep myself from sitting with stressful thoughts.
Reading is the only way for me to leave my head. Opening a good book puts me in someone else’s mind. However, reading is more than just a way to escape. Here are five reasons why reading is the best medicine for a bad case of a stressful week.
- better attention span
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In this day and age, attention spans are short, and stress is high. For me, reading is the only time I intentionally set my phone aside for more than an hour. Putting your phone on do not disturb, snuggling up in bed with a hot drink, and turning on some ambient lighting make reading seem like a choice.
It’s one step away from your life for a couple of hours, and your phone is your connection to that life. I have found that when I go more than two days without reading, I am quicker to reach for my phone in my downtime. I’m usually attached to apps like Instagram and TikTok, but when I have a good reading routine, I’m more aware that I am wasting time when scrolling longer than a few minutes, and thus reach for my phone less. It seems to help me be more comfortable without constant stimulation because I am used to having a couple of hours a day with my only source of entertainment being the book in front of me.
- more time alone
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The stress I experience in college is rooted in social fears. I feel the need to be around people, whether that’s at the library or my friend’s house. I leave little time in my schedule to be by myself.
This bad habit caught up to me after several weeks of constant interaction. I combat this vice by scheduling reading time into my days and prioritizing those times over a night with friends or peers. By doing so, I force myself to face my anxiety.
Picking quiet times over exciting times is hard. However, it is crucial for a sustained healthy relationship with stress and anxiety. Reading, something I look forward to doing every day, is the easiest way to pick quiet time. And once you start reading and come to enjoy the quiet, you will undoubtedly begin to look forward to it as well.
- An opportunity to escape
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Reading allows you to relate to a person like no other media can. I often read books in the first person, meaning I can feel the characters’ thoughts and emotions with them. Seeing someone, even fictional, stress about something similar to me grounds me in a way nothing else can.
You can also choose whether you want to relate or anticipate. I’ll pick a cute rom-com if I want a pick-me-up, something light and airy to take my mind off of something. I’ll pick a contemporary fiction book when I want to address the root of my emotion or stress and want to face it with the character in the pages of my book.
Either way, reading fixes the stress. Whether it’s a temporary or permanent fix is up to me.
- A healthier night’s sleep
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It’s hard to shut off that stress when you first begin reading. It’s also hard to face your short attention span and fear of quiet time. So, opening up a book makes sleep seem like an easier option.
Let’s say you’ve just gotten home from a long day, and you decide you’re going to read. What could have been a long night of doom scrolling has turned into an activity where you can set a specific stop time. After a couple of hours of reading, your mind empties, and the sleepiness hits you. You can put down the book and climb into bed much easier than you did the previous night when you got stuck on TikTok, your head still spinning.
Because you read, you get to sleep earlier and with a clearer mind. Reading is a decision; scrolling is a habit. By making that decision, you inevitably set a stop time appropriate for the day ahead of you. And that extra sleep can only help you tackle the stressful day in the morning.
In conclusion, reading is something that has helped me in my journey with anxiety, especially the stress I experience because of it. Reading has allowed me to improve my attention span, prioritize time alone, escape my daily life, and get better sleep.
I encourage you to find your version of reading. So many hobbies can bring you the same benefits that reading has brought me. Anything that requires you to set down your phone and prioritize alone time will give you the same feeling of escapism and the comfort of a good night’s sleep. It’s an investment I don’t think you’ll regret making.