Reading and Wellbeing on World Mental Health Day 2021
On Sunday 10th October, it’s World Mental Health Day. It’s promoted by the World Health Organisation to raise awareness about mental health and to help support it. At Books2Door, we think reading is a great way to improve your mental health.
How does reading improve mental wellbeing?
So many people worldwide have found the benefits of reading for improving their lives whether they experience mental health problems or not. Such was the case with Sydney Timmins, a mental health survivor and founder of the Mental Health Book Club Podcast. She wrote about her source of remedy in a post from the Mental Health First Aid organisation.
Timmins has stated that reading can reduce stress significantly. It allows you to escape from your regular life and brings readers to a world of the characters within the story. Research points to the fact that escapism has more profound and complicated areas, and reading is often one way to initiate this. People will find that reading is life-changing and results in readers interacting with the world around them differently.
Reading fiction has been shown numerous times to build empathy for others, understand feelings and emotions, and develop better communication. We learn to understand people’s views, beliefs and how to create better relationships from reading fiction books.
The National Literacy Trust report believes that high literacy levels will positively impact social and cultural progress within communities. Hence, addressing the challenges of reaching a standard of literacy is a national goal for children and adults. Literacy improves personal wellbeing, creates a safer, more robust and positive community, and drives future economic success.
Reading also works to prevent memory loss and helps with brain development. Reading throughout your early and later life is suggested to help slow down memory loss. This type of cognitive activity also helps us become smarter and have better insight into the potential problems around us.
From better self-understanding, academic performance, social skills, and knowledge of verbal skills and learning more about the world around us, reading should be strongly encouraged by all of us for young and old.
What’s the research behind this?
In the past few decades, numerous studies have pointed out that reading has strong positive effects on mental health and is a powerful tool to tackle mental health-related problems.
In research done by Dr David Lewis, it was found that even reading as little as six minutes a day can reduce stress by 60%. It reduces your heart rate, relaxes muscles and improves your state of mind. Furthermore, this study had suggested that reading can be even more beneficial than music, drinking tea or going for a walk when dealing with stress.
A report done by the National Literacy Trust involved a survey of 49,047 people in the UK, both children and young people aged 8 to 18. In this analysis, children and young people who are the most engaged with literacy are three times more likely to have higher levels of mental wellbeing than children who are the least engaged (39.4% vs 11.8%).
From the study of Chevalier and Feinstein (2006), it was found that literacy education can effectively reduce the possibility of adult depression. Therefore, it is vital to introduce a good reading habit for children early on, which can be further taken into adulthood.
In a similar study by Brynner and Parsons (2000), it was disclosed that women with good literacy skills were less likely to encounter depression. A good reading habit can strongly impact mental and psychological health. It can equip readers with a stronger and more positive point of perspective to achieve personal goals.
Bibliotherapy is something people can use to overcome mental health issues. Bibliotherapy is fantastic for depression sufferers and is effective for dealing with mental health problems. The Liverpool Health Inequalities Research Institute had examined a reading group program for those suffering from depression over twelve months. It was discovered that participants had improved concentration, better emotional understanding, the ability to talk about significant issues, and better self-awareness.
In Hicks (2003) research, evidence shows the correlation between reading and better mental and physical health. Recreational reading exercises the imagination. This gives access for people to information on improving health benefits, relaxation, fitness, social interaction. Reading empowers the individual and promotes personal development, supports self-expression and encourages independent learners to explore broader social issues and understand both self and others.
Which books can help?
Now we know one of the best methods to boost mental health, let’s work hard for each other and include some reading in our daily lives. For this reason, let’s work hard to encourage each other to read more and learn more. It can help to create a reading schedule, which will help ensure you get a little done each day.
If you’re looking for some great books to read, take a look at our positive mental wellbeing collection. We’ve included books from Ruby Wax, Joe Wicks, and many more authors, which are sure to help you on your health journey. We also sell some great mindfulness and colouring books, all of which you can find in the collection above.
There are other endless amounts of benefits of reading which we haven’t touched upon which can be found linked below. Our Home Learning category is great for homeschooling. We also have other great titles in Young Adults for adults and parents. You may also find that our Activity Books collection is something you and your kids may enjoy.
Let us bring joy and education into your relaxation time by providing our best books for you. Remember that it is always crucial to support one another in developing better physical and mental health. We must all play our part to build a strong and positive network of people, for both children and adults. Books are perfect for everybody to bond together and create precious moments that can further improve your mental health.
One way to support mental wellness is to keep having honest and open conversations about it. We also posted for Mental Health Awareness Week 2021, which has excellent advice on helping young readers engage with books.
Sources
https://mhfaengland.org/mhfa-centre/blog/reading-good-mental-health/#