Good Reads for Bad Days – Can Reading Really Chill You Out? [Local WNC Writers]

Escape into Summer Reads

Benefits of Reading Books by Our Local WNC Writers

Are you stressed out? After the last few years, most people are worried or troubled about something.

Stress can come from a lot of different sources: everything from politics to long cycles of disastrous weather, from personal illnesses to hard financial times or just the everyday struggle of making a living in a world that seems too fast paced.

But don’t despair, according to a blog post on the Booklyst, 14 Benefits of Reading That Will Make You Pick a Book Every Day:

Reading a book is an effective (and cheap) way to relieve stress
You can actually become smarter
Reading improves your memory
Reading improves your vocabulary
Reading slows down cognitive decline
Reading is a great way to entertain yourself

…

The article goes on to state, “According to research conducted by the University of Sussex, it has been proven that reading is better to reduce stress than other activities like walking in a park or sitting down with a cup of tea. Just six minutes of reading alone is enough to reduce stress by more than two-thirds.”

Plus ” Reading makes you smarter – Now this one is easy. If you read more — you learn more. Regardless of the type of books you prefer, you still learn new things from every new book.”

And “Reading slows down cognitive decline – According to this research, people who are active readers, puzzle solvers, or chess players, might be two times less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease in comparison to those who do not practice such activities.”

So with these ideas of escaping into a wonderful book in mind, here at Mountain Made, we have listed some of our most popular fiction and non-fiction books…