Week #2: Reading For 30 Minutes (Part 1)

Hello blog! Today was the first day of my second healthy-habit which is reading for thirty minutes everyday! A week or two ago, I went to Barnes and Noble and purchased a novel called The Happiness Trap by Dr. Russ Harris and Steven Hayes, PhD. This book is a guide to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). This is a mindfulness-based therapy used for reducing stress as well as overcoming fear and improving quality of life. I will be reading this book for thirty minutes everyday this week in a quiet, relaxing setting. I hope that reading everyday will help calm and relax my mind. I also hope I gain knowledge on how to manage my stress while reading this novel.

While researching the effects of reading on mental wellness, I discovered various benefits! I discovered that reading itself can reduce stress levels by a large percentage. reading helps calm the mind by causing it to focus on what we are reading instead of what we are stressed about or what is causing us anxiety. Studies have also found that reading increases our empathy towards others and helps us sleep better at night. Reading as also been found to have many other benefits such as improve memory, increased intelligence, snd strengthening the neural connections in our brain.

Tonight, I lit a candle, put away my phone, and spent thirty quiet minutes reading in my bed. In the beginning of the thirty minutes, it was hard for me to focus. I kept wanting to go on my phone and I felt a little anxious because I have so much other work I need to get done as well. As the time went on while I was reading, I became more and more focused and my mind began to calm down. At the end of my reading session, I was so relaxed I began to fall asleep! I am not sure if I am just really tired or if the reading really helped me relax, but I am excited to see more confirmed results as I continue to read this week.The novel The Happiness Trap is already so interesting! I am still in the introduction segment of the novel but learning about Acceptance and Commitment Therapy so far has been fascinating. I can not wait to see how this type of guidance therapy will affect me! Stay tuned or more updates on Wednesday!

\

Sources:

Weiss, Alex. “8 Ways Reading Can Boost Your Mental Health.” Bustle, Bustle, 14 Nov. 2016, www.bustle.com/articles/194864-8-ways-reading-can-boost-your-mental-health.