If you are hoping to find validated research backed up by scientific data in this blog post then I’m sorry to disappoint. I feel that I must say from the start that this is my personal (and very honest) account of how reading has improved my wellbeing.

I’ve been reading for as long as I can remember. My first memory of a book is of a battered old copy of fairy tales that I used to carry everywhere with me. For me it was more precious than all the crisp copies of individually bound stories money could buy. It was heavy, green, ledger sized, and some of the pages were stuck together, but it gave me immense comfort to have it near.

Even now, just looking at a book can make me feel better. As a teenager, I used to spend hours (not joking) in the local library doing nothing but browsing and feeling an overwhelming panic that I wouldn’t be able to read all the books that I wanted in my short human lifetime.

When I was getting ready for my college exams I read more novels than notes or text books. Mum wasn’t particularly happy about this and I sometimes had to continue my reading rather like Harry Potter in the middle of the night with a flashlight from my phone (no wand in sight I’m afraid). I did ace my exams, but it was only years later that I found out that reading for pleasure is actually encouraged to ensure your mind gets an equal (well.. a bit more in my case) time to relax, wander, enjoy downtime as it does to focus on achievements.

According to The Reading Agency reading for pleasure builds empathy and improves wellbeing – so it must be true. And I can see it in my tiny little daughter. She was introduced to books fairly early on (not surprising eh?) and her rapport with other children has improved because of it. She shows greater sensitivity towards real life situations when she comes across them because she first saw them in books. As an adult I can also say that I tend to be more attuned to other’s experiences when I have more time to read. Sometimes it feels as if I have just come across that specific situation in the book I was reading recently, and wasn’t it interesting the way the author responded to it, and what should my response be now? I guess it also makes me feel a little like we are characters in our own novel as well. What would it be like to have a bit of your life described (perhaps a bit sensationalised) in 300 something pages?

I also read to help me escape from daily life, as I’m sure a lot of other people do as well, and there are countless quotes on reading with which I could bore you. Don’t worry, I have chosen a very specific one for now. The writer Samuel Johnson apparently didn’t say this, but someone did, and it remains true: ‘The true aim of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it’.

Finally, my wellbeing is centred around being able to grow personally and professionally, which is why reading suits me so well. You see, I also read to learn. With every book I read I learn about places, habits, cultures, beliefs, customs, the human condition and the human psyche. I learn how to fish (in theory) and how to lie. How to pursue my interests and how to herd sheep (tried it once and it worked).

This being a blog post and not a memoir, I’m going to end now by leaving you with one of my favourite quotes and I hope it holds some meaning for you as well:
“I cannot remember the books I’ve read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Oana Pop, Continuous Improvement Manager.

Join Oana at the Book Club event this week: Coffee and Books Talk, Thursday 12.30pm Lg46.