The joy of reading

Hello and welcome to The Olivia Rose Diaries on August 18^th 2024. We are slowly working our way through a long list of gardening jobs at Le Shack and so I thought the subject for the blog this week could be something a little different to usual – and quite unrelated to gardening!

I am an avid reader, as I’m sure many of you are too, and so I thought this month we might look at why reading is so good for us.

When is your favourite time to read a book? I like to read in bed before I go to sleep. It doesn’t have to be for long, maybe fifteen minutes to half an hour, but I find it helps me to sleep better. The process of picking up a book, or a Kindle, somehow creates a cut-off point, sending a message to my brain that it is time to wind down, to relax both muscles and mind, and put the day behind me.

The choice of book is key. I personally find that fiction doesn’t always work as well as non-fiction. If the story is fast-paced and full of adventure I can feel my body picking up on that tension. My shoulders hunch up, my eyes are out on stalks and, if we are at a really crucial moment, I might involuntarily cry out ‘don’t do it!’ or a similar phrase, thereby disturbing Michael’s supposedly peaceful reading time or, even worse, actually waking him up.

At this time of night non-fiction has more of a soothing effect and there is such a vast choice that there is likely to be something for everyone. I often read books about people’s travel adventures or about nature, subjects which still evoke a strong response and can be deeply satisfying, but don’t send the blood pressure soaring.

I love reading and know I find it relaxing but I’ve never taken the time to stand back and think about why it is so beneficial. There are many positive attributes but I have concentrated on just five of them.

1. It has been scientifically proven that reading reduces stress – as the mind relaxes so does the body, lowering the heart rate, reducing blood pressure, releasing the feel-good hormones and lifting the mood (unless you’re reading something very depressing or traumatising). This also explains how it helps us to sleep better.
2. It’s a mental work out. Think of reading being for the mind what exercise is for the body. Use it or lose it.
3. Because some books allow us to escape to a different world or situation, they can help with depression or inspire us to new heights. Books are incredibly powerful tools for empowering people, whether it be gaining a new perspective, being motivated by what others have achieved against all odds, or learning that other people feel the same way as you and that you are not alone.
4. Books are wonderful teachers, they educate, inspire, make us laugh and cry – all things are possible once you start reading.
5. I’ve left this last point to last, and it’s a personal one. I love reading because it’s one-on-one, just me and my book cocooned in a quiet place and moving at a slow pace. It’s where I go for me-time. It’s a place of refuge in a busy world.

Armed with a deeper understanding of why reading is good for us I now feel I never need to feel guilty if I bury my head in a book when I should be doing something supposedly more worthy of my time. Sounds like the perfect excuse to me. Now I just have to decide whether I’m going to read Stephen King’s Fairy Tale tonight (a Brothers Grimm type fairy tale and therefore edge of the seat stuff) or Every Day Nature by Andy Beer (much more relaxing).

See you soon. Happy reading!

Mary-Jane