Right now, stress, anxiety, and uncertainty are at all-time highs; optimism, mood, even sex drives are the polar opposites. Out of the multitude of healthy coping options, there’s one fun thing you can do to reduce the former and improve the latter. In as little as six minutes reading a novel that transports you into a character’s world, you can reduce stress by 68% with lowered heart rate and muscle tension, per the University of Sussex. These UK researchers compared the pastime and found that reading outshined listening to music, taking a walk or having a cup of tea.So: Grab a good book.

Therapists recommend reading to therapy clients for many reasons. I’ve seen the power of its distraction during tough times or transitions in my own life.² Reading women’s fiction— emotional journeys that find women exploring their own needs as well as relationships—led to my adopting a pen name to write a Chesapeake series that is pure escape. Indeed, escape is where it’s at for readers, especially now. E-commerce figures prove it.

Respondents to a Guardian poll explained that they had more time to turn pages, needed to stay entertained and used books as an escape.Other book purchases reflected politics, pandemics and apocalypse themes.

What might get you to settle down with someone else’s story? Here’s what you may gain:

• Reading fiction is shown to enhance a skill known as theory of mind, which is the ability to understand others’ mental states and show increased empathy.
• Book readers live an average of two years longer than non-readers, according to research published in Social Science & Medicine. Compared to those who didn’t read books, people who read for up to 3.5 hours per week had a 17% lower risk of dying over the next 12 years; and those who read more than 3.5 hours per week lowered the risk of dying prematurely by 23 percent.
• Reading can help build sexual tension and improve responsive desire, especially when libido wanes. Responsive desire means that you need to be stimulated—mentally and/or physically.

For women, sexuality is very mindful, but in order to be fully present, most women must build sexual tension and distract from day-to-day activities or the to-do list, by engaging in meditation and by allowing their brains to fantasize. Herein is where a good novel—romance genre, women’s fiction or erotica, for sure—primes a woman’s desire in ways that male-fantasy-driven films cannot.    

Sexual scenarios made for the big screen stimulate more men than women it appears. Novels allow you to picture characters the way you imagine them, more than in movies. As for cover art, do read book descriptions first to fully select new authors or old favorites.

• Compared to remote-control pushing, reading gave an edge to kindness as researchers at Kingston University in London found. Reading, which introduces language to children when they are read to and develops vocabulary and communication for all ages pays off with greater awareness and empathy for other people’s feelings. In this study, those who watched television came across as less friendly, with lower understanding for others’ views.
• Also, life-long readers have been found to have more protection against Lewy bodies, amyloid burden and tangles in their brains over a six-year study, published in Neurology. Reading into one’s older years reduced memory decline by more than 30%, compared to other forms of mental activity.

Reading for merely 10-30 minutes a day offers plentiful advantages for mental/physical well-being, one’s kindness quotient, relationships, and libido as well as living longer to experience it all!