Suffering from Burnout? Here’s How Reading Can Serve as an Antidote

Medical ConditionsAugust 13, 2020

Life as we know it can be stressful at times, and it may take every ounce of willpower we have to make it through our days.

Unfortunately, even the best of us tend to be weighed down and while we may not give up, the one thing we cannot avoid is burnout.

You’re busy at work, busy at home, you’re starting a business, you have little kids, you’re a member of the local religious committee… and it goes on and on. How then can you not suffer vicious fatigue?

After a truly exhausting day, most of us would rather be caught dead than doing some night reading, right? Why bother when you have YouTube to entertain you?

But according to Verily, a challenging read is exactly what should put you to sleep. The media outlet reports that reading relieves burnout symptoms. So, exactly how does a hard book do this? Check this out.

Reading Returns Your Focus

For some people, burnout manifests in the form of scattered attention. This is understandable, especially if their to-do list is pulling them in a million different directions. Such individuals find it difficult to prioritize the important stuff and even if they do manage to complete these tasks, they may not handle them as well as they would have had they been fully focused.

This, as Verily explains, is an issue that a challenging read solves easily. By telling a complicated story, the book will force you to concentrate of its characters fully, bringing back your ability to focus on the task at hand.

By ignoring everything else, and that’s including your phone and laptop, you’ll be offering your brain a much-needed break. The fact that you don’t have a deadline as to when you should complete the book makes this a different task from what you’re used to at work and soon enough, you’ll find yourself turning page after page.

By ignoring everything else, you offer your brain a much-needed break

It Bestows Feelings of Accomplishment

As you may already know, one of the root causes of burnout is the lack of reward after breaking your back performing endless tasks. Such tasks tend to be repetitive, and more often than not, boring. You may not want to admit it, but you must have thought about it.

On the bright side, a novel isn’t repetitive. You follow the story from beginning to end, interacting with complex characters while at it. The more you pour yourself into reading it, the better you feel about yourself.

It could be a page, chapter, or the entire book eventually, but with each turn, you feel as though you’ve accomplished something. You’ll go to bed with the satisfaction of having completed something, and by the time you doze off, you’ll have forgotten about your frustrating day.

Go to bed with the satisfaction of having completed something

Reading Gives You A Choice

You know how at work you have to perform tasks that your job description bequeaths? Or how you have to shop for groceries, clean, and do all those other house chores? You literally have no other choice but to handle these tasks.

With a good book though, there’s no ultimatum. Yes, it requires your effort, but it is something you get to do at the end of a long day – an option, a leisure activity. And this makes all the difference.