Reading For Mental Health

I read alot, both online and offline. I read many different types, and I read a good amount of stories on Vocal. One of the good things about reading is that you can read with or without purpose, and I find a balance of both is really healthy for me. My days can vary from busy to boring, especially on those days when I am stuck at home with not much to do. I decided to get around this by including reading with my job as a writer. Obviously like many of you, I do have chores and I go out because I like to try and keep myself active too, but there are those in-between days when the weather is horrible or everything I need to do has been finished, and then I go out of my mind with boredom and I hate that! I also have some major issues with insomnia, and if I am suddenly wide awake with nothing to do for hours, that can be more frustrating than insomnia itself, so I like to pull out my kindle or laptop, and set it to dim light and read until I am tired. If you do this, it is important to dim the light as a brightly lit screen will make you feel more awake, rather than sleep.

I can be very random with my reads, as I do not have a particular taste; I just tend to read everything such as steamy sexy novels, sci-fi, gothic, detective, realism, How-to, educational, script-books, children's stories, you name it, I love reading! It isn't just the thrill of what happens next, its also the satisfaction of just digging into something that might just inspire me, which can also get my own creative imagination going, and help me to be creative with my own stories. Sometimes, particularly when I am reading fiction, I often come up with a million ideas for my next master-piece, which makes me happy, because that can set me to work on a few articles for a week, or give me fresh ideas for a book that I am writing.

Reading can be a big boost for mental health, as you can get lost in a new world of characters which also slips you into another world which can be realist, fantasy, gothic, sci-fi, educational etc., The list is endless when you enter the world of books. You can get stuck in to learning new things, solving mysterys, figuring out a plot or getting 'steamed-up' from a love affair, which enables you to escape the stress of real-life and relax more. It can create emotions that can be happy, sad, frustrating, angry, and many others also good for mental health, because reading stories that create these emotions can push you to work on your own mental health, and there is nothing more satisfying than reaching the end of the book and thinking 'I want to read that again!' In fact I have read the Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L James, (2011), a million times over, and now I'm reading it again. Anastacia and Christian's relationship in this book is fulfilling on an emotional and sexual level, and as adults, many of us need thst in our lives.

How-to books are brilliant for getting ideas about new things. You can find plenty of these on the web, and they can teach you all kinds of different things. In fact the book Creative Writing for Dummies (2012), kickstarted me back into writing by teaching me techniques such as character, dialogue, characterization, setting and much more. This shows that reading these kinds of books is good for mental health because it drives motivation and encourages you to try writing different things.

I am going to end my article by asking all of you out there to read more, whether its learning something new or a really good story. Vary your reading, and don't stick to one genre, even a book on poetry or a really good script such as a play can benefit your mental health. Reading is a healthy habit for all of us, and just one hour a day can really help, so please get reading!

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You can read more of my stories here

http://vocal.media/authors/carol-townend