Reading makes you more happy!

Did you know that story reading can reduce negative emotions and largely improve your overall well-being?

Turkish researchers investigated the impact of story reading over a five week period on high school student’s well-being. A group of 33 high school students was asked to read two positive psychology related stories a week over a 5 week period. They were asked to write down what they had learned from those stories and whether they had similar experiences in life. All stories covered themes like gratitude, compassion, character strengths, mindfulness, empathy, forgiveness, responsibility, modesty, perseverance, and justice. After reading a story, students were also asked to practice the activities from the stories in their daily lives. These 33 students were compared to a group of 20 other students that did not have to read stories. Before the investigation, all students were asked to fill out a form asking about their mindfulness, happiness, optimism and their emotions. This form was filled out again at the very end of those five weeks and was used to compare these domains from before to after. Results indicated that story reading is effective for improving mindfulness and optimism and also reduces depression, anxiety, pessimism and other negative emotions within high school students. Overall one can conclude that reading positive psychology related stories can effect one’s well-being positively. Time to turn your television off, grab a book and make yourself more happy!

Reference:

Arslan, G., Yıldırım, M., Zangeneh, M. et al. Benefits of Positive Psychology-Based Story Reading on Adolescent Mental Health and Well-Being. Child Ind Res (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-021-09891-4