People Who Read Before Bed Not Only Sleep Better, But Eat More Healthily and Make More Money via Real Simple

People Who Read Before Bed Not Only Sleep Better, But Eat More Healthily and Make More Money

Real Simple: 9.06.2019 by Maggie Seaver

If your go-to bedtime routine includes winding down with a great book, you’ve got a good thing going. We know you know that already (that’s why you keep doing it!), but yreading before going to bed is not only working for you—it seems to have amazing, self-reported benefits for the masses, according to a recent survey.

Mattress and sleep product review site Sleep Junkie took the liberty of surveying 1,000 people about both their sleep habits and bedtime routines—namely, whether or not they read in bed.

Participants who read in bed at night range from those who read once a week to every night: 11 percent of survey takers read one or two nights a week, 12 percent read three or four, 7 percent read five or six, and 8 percent read every single night. Of the crowd getting a few pages in five or more nights a week, the average time spent reading comes out to 43 minutes.

The results don't lie: Whether they crack open a book three times a month or every night without fail, all respondents said doing so promotes relaxation, reduces stress, induces sleep, centers the mind, and improves sleep quality. All good things. Nearly three quarters of bedtime readers believe they’d have a harder time falling asleep if they didn’t regularly read in bed, and almost everyone (96 percent) would recommend reading before bed to others.

Compared to only 64 percent of non-bedtime readers, 76 percent of bedtime readers report being satisfied with their sleep quality. Not only that, but over the course of a week, bedtime readers clock an extra hour and 37 minutes than non-bedtime readers—that’s a lot of precious Zs.  READ MORE >>