6 SOLERA DIAMOND VALLEY | OCTOBER 2021
Let's Go To The Hop! Let's Go To The Hop!
By Sherrie Chaparro, Resident
The Communications Committee once toyed with the idea
of running a monthly column on "Guilty Pleasures" and asking
residents to submit their stories and come clean. That idea never got
off the ground, but I knew what I would say: Spending the afternoon
reading a well-written police procedural novel with psychological
overtones while munching on potato chips with onion dip and
drinking a glass of wine. Oh, and the laundry hamper is overflowing,
a trip to the grocery store is overdue, and the garden is in desperate
need of trimming, deadheading, and weeding. It doesn't get any
guiltier than that.
But is reading fiction really that bad? Studies have found that it
improves people's capacity to understand and mentally react to
other individuals and social situations. In addition, reading is more
effective at reducing stress than listening to music or going a for walk.
Regular readers sleep better and have less mental decline later in life.
Reading can also improve your vocabulary and increase creativity.
So, the next time you take a morning or afternoon off to read a novel,
leave the guilt behind. You're doing yourself a favor.
Guilty Pleasures
