Just five minutes a day with a book reduces stress and loneliness and boosts concentration
Are you into gratitudinising? Apparently it’s a real word, or has become one because so many people are using it. I’ve certainly heard it more often in recent months than the other words the Oxford University Press deemed the words of the year for 2025 – such as biohacking. Biohacking means ‘optimising your body and mind for better performance, health, and longevity through self-directed, experimental changes to habit and lifestyle’ – for example, taking up gratitudinising. We gratitudinisers are more than merely grateful: we are people who are consciously counting our blessings – and doing it on a daily basis and for a purpose. According to research undertaken for the Queen’s Reading Room charity (I declare an interest: I’m a trustee), reading fiction for just five minutes a day reduces your stress levels by nearly 20 per cent and improves your brain’s capacity to manage stress, while at the same...
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