According to Step Up For Mental Health, “Reading as little as six minutes per day can improve your quality of sleep, reduce stress, and sharpen mental acuity. Reading strengthens the neural circuits and pathways of our brain while lowering heart rate and blood pressure.”
Reading is more than just a hobby—it is a very simple but very powerful resource for improving mental and physical well-being.
“[Reading] makes me feel ten times better,” said Olivia Schultze, 10. “It does, though, because reading makes me happy. I don’t know about other people, but it makes my day better.”
Many students find that reading is a way for them to escape from the stress of school.
“When you’re at school, it’s fine, but with the stress that comes with school, I like having a bit of time where I can read and get away from that. It puts me in a good mood and just restarts me,” Schultze said.
Even teachers can find reading to be a good way to escape from the world.
“I think [reading] gives me a chance to escape from my own world a little bit because we’re locked into other things, whether it’s
our devices or people,” said Michelle Weltz, English teacher. “I have like a million tabs open in my head all the time, so I can kind of close them when I’m reading a book and not have to worry about anything else.”
Even though the act of reading is simple, the benefits can be plentiful.
“Sometimes if I’m having a bad day in school, I will just go sit in the bathroom and read for like five minutes and then come back, and it just brings me down,” said Elsie Collins, 11. “Any reading can help.”
For those who struggle to find the time or motivation to read, these readers shared their advice.
“I think starting off small by reading—like a page a day or a chapter a day—and start to grease that bit by bit, or at least trying to if you have a busy schedule, or just setting a time a day where you just read. I think that’s very beneficial for me at least,” said Schultze.
“I say start with audiobooks because that’s how I consume a lot of my books too. I think any reading is good reading, no matter what it is, so if you’re still not sure about what you’re into or what genres you would like, maybe look up some things or talk to your friends and see what they’re into if they’re also reading. Sometimes they can provide some good suggestions, but if you don’t have time or the motivation, go to audiobooks first because if anything, you can listen to it through your AirPods or on the way to or from work and school; that’s what I do. That way you’re getting a little bit of [reading], and then once you find a genre or an author you like, then you can start to think about what books to read,” said Weltz.
“Honestly, I have trouble finding something to read.Googling what happens in the book helps even though you are spoiling it. For me, I dedicate time [to read] just out of my sleep schedule,” said Collins.
