Last month, I wrote about the proven (and yet-to-be-proven) benefits of reading as an adult. And they are many! If you want to reduce stress, improve sleep, prevent cognitive decline, and develop immunity to mind control,¹ among other positive effects, a reading routine might be right for you!

Before you start, though, I feel it is only fair to warn you of the potentially detrimental side effects of routine reading. Here are a few of the most common complaints we get from readers about their literary afflictions, as well as some librarian-approved treatment options:

Aches and Pains

Symptoms: Whether in your back/shoulders from hauling too many heavy tomes around or full body aches from seeking the ever-elusive perfect reading position, serious readers may experience some physical discomfort.

Treatments: While most say the physical pain is worth the mental gain, there is hope for relief. Choose paperbacks that weigh less, read on a light and ergonomic e-reader, or swap out your physical books with audiobooks. You can even exercise while listening, though that may lead to its own set of aches and pains.²

Readers in pursuit of the perfect reading position.

Losing Time

Symptoms: Some readers report losing track of time. You may lose anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours, and in rare cases, whole weekend days. This phenomenon is especially common in readers who discover The Perfect Book. Is this lost time wasted? Of course not. But where does it go? And why are the dishes still dirty?

Treatments: To make sure you don’t forget your other obligations, set an alarm before you sit down to read. If you tend to read straight through the night (thereby negating the positive effects reading has on sleep quality), set a bedtime alarm. The trick is not hitting snooze all night.³

Irritability (In Yourself and in Those around You)

Symptoms (Irritability in Others): Books can help us drown out the hustle and bustle of the world for a while, which contributes to reduced stress, lower blood pressure, and alleviation of depression and anxiety symptoms. Unfortunately, drowning out the rest of the world means also missing the conversations you’re meant to partake in. This can cause frustration in the people around you.

Symptoms (Irritability in Yourself): Few things are more aggravating than being repeatedly interrupted while reading. Interruptions may lead to snapping at people, passive-aggressive responses, and slamming doors, among other frustration-induced actions.

Treatments: Develop habits that make it very obvious to those around you that you are busy and not paying attention. This may take the form of large headphones, wearing a hood or hat to prevent accidental eye contact, or creating a designated “do not disturb me” area of your home.

These people are Clearly Reading and therefore Should Not Be Disturbed.

Distorted Sense of Reality

Symptoms: Non-readers frequently try to convince readers that just because a book character doesn’t have a physical body or exist in real space means that they “aren’t real” and do not deserve your grief/joy/love. They may insist that mourning a beloved character’s death for a month is “too long” or that creating an entire mood board on Pinterest for your OTP’s⁴ wedding is “unhealthy and not normal”.

Treatments: We recommend attending a support group (these may also be called book clubs), where you will meet like-minded readers who also encounter this attitude in their skeptical loved ones. Your book club family knows that good characters take on lives of their own and will never complain when you bring a hand-decorated cake to celebrate a fictional character’s birthday.

All that said, these side effects pale in comparison to the benefits of reading. After all, who doesn’t want lower blood pressure, increased empathy, and the ability to fly?⁵ Consult a librarian today about starting a new reading regimen or get going with our premade plan, the Adult Summer Library Program. It’s not too late to earn nifty prizes for meeting your reading goal and completing activity challenges.

¹Still not proven by science. Yet.
²Consult your doctor, not your librarian, for exercise-related ailments.
³If you successfully keep track of time and your dishes still aren’t done, maybe consult one of these books. Just make sure to set a timer.
⁴OTP, which stands for One True Pairing, is a term that signifies a person’s favorite fictional romantic relationship. – Dictionary.com
⁵I’m still waiting to develop flight capabilities. But it’s definitely a real benefit of reading. For sure.