According to YouGov, only 75% of British people have finished reading at least one book in the past year … the positive take on that statistic is that three quarters of us have been reading regularly. I’m sure most children at Barrow Hills are in the positive group. But it is a shame for the remaining 25% because those who read consistently, exhibit significantly greater memory and mental abilities, they are often considered better thinkers and public speakers, as well as many other benefits too.
However, did you know that cracking open a book before you go to bed could help you combat insomnia too?
A 2009 study from the researchers at the University of Sussex showed that just six minutes of reading before bed reduces stress by up to 68% (which is statistically more relaxing than either listening to music or drinking a cup of tea), thus clearing the mind and readying the body for sleep. Psychologists reason that a book is “more than merely a distraction, but an active engagement of the imagination that causes you to enter an altered state of consciousness.” (Dr David Lewis)
It doesn’t matter if your choice of book is Shakespeare or Harry Potter, fiction or fact, so long as you personally find it fully absorbing, because when the mind engages in a world constructed by words, tension evaporates and the body subconsciously relaxes, paving the way for sleep. This is why reading to young children at bedtime, setting them up with great habits for life, is so important in paving the way for independent readers to carry on doing the same for life.
This week I am publishing alongside this article, the next BHLibrary@Home reading challenge – ‘The BHS 500 Minutes of Summer Reading Challenge’ . This is open to all children, both independent readers and those younger children being read to by an adult, and will also be published in the Library Google Classrooms for the Prep Department. Ideally, it would be great if you would encourage each child to complete this as a bedtime activity to develop positive, pre-sleep reading habits. Credits will be awarded per hour read on the first chart completed. This can continue over the summer and rewards will be carried over into next year.
If you would like a copy of the challenge sheet, please let me know lje@barrowhills.org and I will email you though a copy.
Well done to Conrad (6R) and Eloise (4G) who both completed the Reading Bingo Challenge.
Mrs Emmett
Librarian
