Claudia McKenzie loves curling up with a good book. “There’s something so calming and grounding about it,” the 30-year-old marketing manager says. She likens reading to meditating, saying it helps broaden her perspective and allows her to see her issues through a fresh lens.

Connecting with a character in a book can help to ease feelings of loneliness.

Connecting with a character in a book can help to ease feelings of loneliness.Credit: iStock

It’s music to the ears of psychologist Jocelyn Brewer, who says reading can help us in more ways than those McKenzie mentions. It’s also good for our brains. “The cognitions involved in reading are complex and rapid,” says Brewer, “requiring a relatively high level of focus to not just decode words but comprehend the story, symbolism and meaning within the text.”

There are also psychological benefits to reading. Connecting with a character in a book can help to ease feelings of loneliness. “Seeing ourselves reflected in stories and represented in print can help create a sense of being understood and of belonging,” says Brewer.

Book reading may also improve your longevity. Such was the finding of research published in Social Science & Medicine in 2016, which found that book readers experienced a 20 per cent reduction in mortality risk over the 12 years of follow-up, compared to non-book readers.

And you don’t have to live with your nose inside a book to reap the rewards. The author of the 2016 research, Avni Bavishi, says the more the respondents read, the longer they lived. But he notes that just a few minutes a day will bring benefits to readers.

If it’s been years since you’ve read a book, Brewer recommends carrying one wherever you go, to get back into the habit. “You can pick up a book while waiting for the kids’ dance lesson to be over, or sitting on the train to work. It’s a simple act of replacement.”

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And that simple act is a habit worth forming, says Brewer, who adds that while scrolling on your phone may seem more convenient, “books offer deeper, richer and more satisfying content than the volume of videos and shallow content on screens”.

You can also read a book on an electronic device, and Brewer says this is preferable to not reading at all. But whenever possible, pulling out an actual book is a “more holistic, sensory experience”. She says it’s also better to read a physical book rather than an e-reader before bed, because backlit screens can interfere with melatonin levels, which may affect your sleep.

While it’s become common for people to pull out their phones when they have a spare moment, McKenzie prefers to whip out a novel. She says being on her phone helps to pass time, but she often feels “even more tired and fatigued and less motivated” when she puts it down. “It’s just brain-numbing.”

Reading books, on the other hand, invigorates her. “I get totally swept up in the story and I’m transported to a different world,” she says. “It’s a great way to put my own life on hold for a little while and just unwind.”

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