Let’s Talk Bookish – How Reading Affects Mental Health

Aria @ Book Nook Bits will be the new host for Let’s Talk Bookish! If you aren’t following her yet, good check out her blog and give her a follow!

APRIL 23: HOW READING AFFECTS MENTAL HEALTH (SUGGESTED BY KRISTIN @ LUKTEN AV TRYKKSVERTE)

Prompts: In what ways does reading affect your mental health? Does it affect your mental health positively or negatively at certain times, and why? How do you find a balance to keep up with reading while being mindful of your mental health? Do triggers, bookish controversies, and things like that affect your health a lot more than you let on?

Welcome to another week of LTB here at DTRH everyone! Today’s topic is about how reading affects mental health, and it’s certainly a great topic. Can’t wait to hear how reading affects the rest of you out there!

Overall I think books always affect my mental health in a good way. But that might also be because I always pick books that cater to my mood, or it’s always what I want to read. I’m sure if I was forced to read textbooks of topics I was not interested in (ha, school), I’d probably quickly fall into quite a reading slump. But that’s the beauty of books right? There’s so many choices, and you don’t have to read it if you don’t want to.

There are certainly books that make me happy, hopeful, or just sad. But these different emotions are all I think healthy and something I expected to feel reading those books. Either way, I think it helps me feel in a healthy way, and is therefore always improving my mental health in one form or another. The only time reading becomes a chore is when I’m really busy and trying to keep up with the blog or some other goal. In those cases, reading can become a bit of a chore no matter what the book is, with the extra pressures of life weighing in.

Finding a balance can be hard. Reading is something I like and I’ll try to do often. On the other hand, wanting to do it often can throw off priorities—perhaps I shouldn’t be reading at that time. One thing I’ve learned to do more often is just not to push myself too hard. Pushing over the edge makes it really hard to come back, and burnout is seriously no joke. If your body/brain is telling you it’s too much, it’s probably too much. Take a break! Stop for a second, and consider your health. Both physical and mental health are paramount.

Books don’t tend to trigger me. Perhaps some cringeworthy moments from some authors, but not too much beyond that. I mean in the end, it’s just a book, even if there are things I don’t agree with. Everyone has their freedom of expression, and even if you don’t agree or think that kind of material should or shouldn’t be there, it would do no good to take it out on yourself (or even the author). Prioritize your mental health, it is way more important. If it affected me, I would definitely set things aside or avoid certain things, since we all have the choice of what we want to read.

How does reading affect your mental health? Does it at all? Let me know in the comments below!

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