Do you enjoy reading at night?
Some of the busiest and most successful people in the world find time for reading. Why? Because it helps them to wind down as well as gain new information and knowledge.
People chose to read for a variety of reasons, but how can reading before bed lead to a positive impact on your life? From nurturing creativity to improving attention spans, it has proven to offer numerous health and wellness benefits.
This is what can happen if you dedicate time to reading before bed:
Better Quality Sleep
Do you need to fall asleep faster? Try reading! Immersing ourselves in a fictional world allows the tension to ease from our bodies. Basically, we relax. It is an optimal way to achieve restful sleep. In fact, you have probably found yourself dozing off while reading in the past.
Consider how children enjoy bedtime stories as part of their nightly ritual. This is because it helps them to get a good night’s rest. There is no reason why we shouldn’t continue this ritual into adulthood.
Decrease Stress
It is easy for stress to build up during the day. Therefore, it is important to take our minds off of our racing thoughts, tomorrow’s to-do list, and everything else we have ahead of us so we can unwind.
One study in the UK found that reading for just 6 minutes can reduce stress by up to 68%. In fact, these 6 minutes of reading can slow down your heart rate and lower your blood pressure. It does not matter what you are reading, so pick up a romance, fiction, biography, textbook, or whatever you have available. All that matters is that the subject is interesting to you.
Improve Wellbeing
Books are quiet and peaceful. When we have a bad day and wish that we could be anywhere else, reading can offer us a mental vacation. It is inexpensive and an easy way to escape our responsibilities for a few hours without being limited by our current location. After all, you can pick up a book whenever you feel like it, no matter where you are.
Develop Emotional Maturity
Reading offers us an opportunity to get lost in a new world, but it can also cultivate emotional awareness. Most days, we focus on ourselves. How we are feeling, what we are thinking, etc. By engaging with a story, we place ourselves in someone else’s situation. We consider their perspectives and issues, and by doing so, we begin to understand the emotions of those around us a little better. We become more empathetic as we discover and understand how others act and feel.
Nurture Creativity
Books invite you to think. To problem-solve. To have that Aha! moment.
Reading opens up the imagination and broadens our minds, which paves the way for creativity. Stories take us on a journey. They offer us new information and introduce us to different people that provide a variety of perspectives about the world we share.
Boost Concentration
Regardless of our age, reading can help us focus and strengthen our vocabulary all at once. Have you heard the phrase, “The more you read, the more you learn”? Books build and shape our learning capacity.
When we focus on a book rather than scrolling through social media or emails before bed, that single topic or plot becomes our center of attention. This can lead to better concentration and an improvement in our attention span beyond reading.
Relaxing
Take this time for yourself by engrossing your mind in a book and let your troubles fade away for the night. Allow yourself a moment of peace before bed, so you can have a good start tomorrow.
