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Why Reading Fiction is a New Part of My Health Routine
Reading is Both a Workout and a Spa for the Mind
I have always enjoyed reading, especially sci-fi and fantasy novels that describe interesting worlds and compelling characters. Reading is relaxing, and compared to similar hobbies like playing video games or watching TV, probably more mentally stimulating. However, when I was a graduate student, I unwittingly phased out this hobby due to the demands of my studies and spent most of my active reading time delving through the scientific literature on nutrition, rather than engaging in reading as a leisure activity.
More recently, I have come back to my beloved genres of sci-fi and fantasy and this has surprisingly helped me in ways that I wouldn't have necessarily predicted. The purported health benefits of reading, specifically within fiction, nabbed my curiosity and I decided to do some research on this. What I found was incredibly exciting and something I knew I had to write about. Below, I will describe some of the health benefits of reading fiction, along with some of my own takes on how reading can make us better people and improve our health.
Improved Relaxation and Better Sleep
The health and lifestyle blogger, Tim Ferris, has often said that he prefers reading…
