![]() ![]() Plenty of people prefer the full reading experience - the weight of the book, the smell of paper and ink, the texture of the pages. Reading yourself to sleep could offer a temporary way to avoid getting locked in a spiral of distressing thoughts, especially as you wait for treatments, like therapy and medication, to take effect. That said, if reading distracts you from your worries and helps promote peace of mind, it’s not a huge leap to imagine that it could offer an escape from dark or racing thoughts. ![]() If you read something thoughtful or engaging before bed, it may feel easier to mull over what you read when you lie down to sleep, instead of the worries, doubts, and sense of helplessness that often characterize anxiety and depression.Įxperts have yet to conduct any scientific studies exploring how reading could help ease anxiety and depression. Some people even find that reading helps provide a positive distraction from painful or overwhelming emotions, including feelings of anxiety and depression that can disrupt sleep. While reading long into the night could keep you from getting the amount of sleep you need, reading for a short time before bed may help you stay asleep longer. Maybe you don’t have trouble falling asleep, but you rarely get a full night of sleep. But reading, when combined with insomnia treatment, could help decrease cognitive arousal - or “de-stimulate” your brain - before bed. Regularly getting too little sleep can have a major impact on your physical and emotional well-being. To contrast, only 28 percent of the non-readers reported better sleep. After a week, 42 percent of the readers felt their sleep improved. ![]() A 2021 online study conducted over social media asked 496 participants to read a book in bed before sleeping and 496 participants to not read a book before sleeping. Reading for half an hour could provide just as much stress relief as doing yoga or watching comedy videos for the same amount of time. If worries and other emotional distress keeps you lying awake long past your bedtime, picking up a book could make a difference. Some evidence even suggests reading books could help you live longer, giving you even more time to read before bed or at any time of the day.Īs for bedtime-specific benefits? Research suggests reading may help: protecting against age-related cognitive decline.Reading can be fun - but it doesn’t just provide entertainment. You’ll find tips for getting started below, along with more details on why reading before bed can have such a powerful impact. You might even have some early memories of drifting off to the soothing sound of their voice, or begging for one more chapter before they switched off the light.īut even if your family didn’t spend much time reading, it’s never too late to begin a bedtime reading habit. It could, however, do quite a bit more, from easing emotional distress to promoting a more relaxed and peaceful state of mind.Ī bedtime reading ritual might not be entirely new to you, if someone read to you in childhood. ![]() At the very least, it’s a low-key activity that can help you wind down when you don’t feel entirely ready to sleep. While you might find reading enjoyable at any time of day, reading before bed can offer some particular benefits. They can also teach you new things about the world you live in and help you access experiences and perspectives you might not otherwise encounter.Īnd if you’ve ever gotten lost in the pages of a thrilling adventure, you might also have some familiarity with the way a good book can make time speed by. If you’ve ever read for pleasure, you probably know at least some of what books have to offer.įor one, books can transport you to far-off places (daring sword fights and magic spells, anyone?). ![]()
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