By Deb Smith

Mower Refreshed intern

I am Mower Refreshed’s current intern as I continue my education at Riverland Community College.  It’s through my role as library director at the Brownsdale Grace Gillette Public Library, in Brownsdale, filling in at the Austin Public Library on a regular basis, and volunteering as the Mower Refreshed Healthier Choices Team facilitator, that I offer some valuable connection between reading and wellness:

•Reading can inspire; nothing like an inspiring book to give us courage to take on our own challenges and motivate us to do things differently. Reading puts us in a place to feel empathy along with many other feelings as we invest in book characters.

•Double up your dose of wellness; reading while on a treadmill or stationary bike you are more likely to exercise longer; of course this is to say if you are enjoying your book!

•Reading impacts our health numbers; taking time to sit and read we are calming ourselves. Reading requires your attention and focus; therefore we get calm, heart rate goes down and our troubles of the day get lost for a time.

•Reading can exercise our brains; a book can teach us many things from how to plant, grow, harvest, and cook healthier meals to how to deal with all of life’s little adventures along the road.  It works our brain to process and consider responses.

•Good for your financial health; reading can be a very inexpensive activity.  Not only can you read about financial wellbeing, the cost of reading can remain low to no cost, especially when you visit your local library.

Library staff have continued to explore and be innovative to meet changing needs as well as creating supportive, engaging, empowering, and encouraging environments for the community. Libraries truly have become a community gathering place for a wide variety of activities and they continue to be an important part of helping people learn, grow, and become healthier in all areas of their life.

Did you know?

Mower County has five public libraries and you can check out and return items at any one of them! http://mowerrefreshed.org/empower-2/refreshed-reads/