The daily 6-minute routine that science says helps you get a better night's sleep

Home LivingWellnessSleepThe daily 6-minute routine that science says helps you get a better night’s sleepOne super quick, basically free way to improve your sleep habitsWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

One super quick, basically free way to improve your sleep habits

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

(Image credit: Getty)

Woman stretching and smiling in bed

(Image credit: Getty)

The theory goes that reading works so well to relax you because it distracts you from your personal anxieties, allowing you to escape your reality and enter the author’s world instead. According to cognitive neuropsychologist Dr David Lewis, who led the study, reading enables you to enter an altered state of consciousness that relaxes the brain.

(Image credit: David Lezcano on Unsplash)

Person reading in bed

(Image credit: David Lezcano on Unsplash)

Researches raised the participants' stress levels through a selection of exercises and tests, before asking them to undertake a range of traditional relaxation techniques, such as such as going for a walk, listening to music, or having a cup of tea (although that latter one is perhaps not ideal pre-bed in any case). Things like heart rate and muscle tension were monitored as indicators of stress. Reading was found to be the most effective of them all.

The great part is that the study found that those lowered stress levels were evident after only six minutes of quiet reading. That’s short enough to not impact your daily routine too much at all. Although of course, you might end up extending that period if you end up getting hooked into your current book.

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