"Feeling Stressed? Read!"
"Researchers from the University of Sussex report that of several favorite methods of stress relief - listening to music, going for a walk, drinking a cup of tea or coffee, reading, or playing video games - the hands-down winner was reading, which reduced the stress levels of the test subjects by an impressive 68%.During the test, subjects were asked to perform a variety of tests and exercises while their stress levels and heart rate were monitored. They were also monitored as they used a variety of different relaxation techniques following the exercises.
Acccording to one of the researchers, cognitive neuropsychologist Dr. David Lewis, only 6 minutes - 6 minutes!? - of silent reading was required to bring the subjects' heart rates and muscle tension levels to normal, unstressed levels, and many of the subjects ended the study with stress levels measuring lower than when the study began. My guess is those folk are newborn book fiends at this moment.
So, what makes reading so relaxing? According to Dr. Lewis, it isn't that oft-bandied about accusation that book fiends can't deal with real life and crave distraction, but that reading is effective because it works to stimulate your creativity and cause you to enter what is essentially an altered state of consciousness. Hmmm...an altered state of consciousness? Sounds a bit like meditation, doesn't it?"
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