5 ways reading reduces stress

If you’re in search of a new way to ease tension, the answer could be sitting right on your bookshelf. It turns out that reading might be as effective a stress reliever as yoga or humor, according to research published in the Journal of Teaching and Learning. Here are five benefits of picking up a great page-turner.

1.It gives you a reason to relax. The very act of sitting or lying down and reading a book means your body is at rest. Physical stillness invokes calm by allowing your muscles to let go of tension, says Jephtha Tausig, PhD, a clinical psychologist in New York City.

2. It can reduce your blood pressure and heart rate. “You automatically breathe slower when you’re reading,” says Tausig. This slows your heart rate and relaxes your blood vessels, allowing blood to flow more easily.

3. It may ease your anxiety. Becoming absorbed in a diverting story does two things simultaneously: It distracts you from things you may be worried about in your own life (work pressures, financial issues, problems with children or family) while also giving you a whole new set of people and places to think about.

4. It can be a form of meditation. Reading requires you to focus your mind on what’s right in front of you, says Steven Levine, MD, a board-certified psychiatrist and founder and CEO of Actify Neurotherapies. “By engaging the parts of the brain required to read words, comprehend the subject matter, and relate it to personal experience, reading may ‘crowd out’ stress.”

5. It can help get you to bed. "Quiet reading is often recommended as an activity to do right before lights out as it helps our brains prepare to shut down for sleep,” says Tausig.