Reading books is considered the best hobby for a human. Mostly students and researchers are engaged with books. Everyone chooses books according to their own choices. But at one point, we all can't but agree that reading books leads us to feel asleep. We may see a kid crying for not to study and as an excuse, he says that he feels asleep. But is it just an excuse to avoid studying or there are scientific reasons behind this? Let's investigate...
When we read books, we have to keep our eyes open. Eyelids are made of muscles. These muscles help us keep our eyelids open and blinking. When we read books for a long time, these muscles feel pressure and become tired. As a result, our eyes come close. For example, think about your hand. If you keep your hand raised for some time, your hand will want to come down at one point. Why does this happen? This happens because your muscles become tired. Same for the eyes too.
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Reading books requires not only reading but also seeing, thinking, analyzing, memorizing, etc. Your brain does a lot of work at the same time which makes your brain tired and the brain wants to rest at that time. So it orders your body to sleep and gives it some rest. As a result, you feel asleep.
Besides all of these, your reading environment can also affect your sleepiness. But how? The less light you are exposed to while studying, the more likely you are to feel drowsy as decreased light signals to your brain that it is time to sleep. Also if you study lying, this will give your body a comfortable situation to sleep and your brain will think the same. Therefore, you will feel sleepy. Some people read books at the time of sleeping as they think that reading books inspire the brain to sleep.
How can we avoid sleeping at the time of reading? Well, this isn't 100 percent possible to avoid it. But you can lessen sleepiness by following some rules, such as reading in the proper light, reading on the table, sleeping every day properly, etc. You also need to avoid some habits, like reading in bed, reading at late night, etc. Drinking coffee or tea will also help you to keep yourself awake as they contain caffeine that keeps your nervous system active and doesn't let you sleep.
Written by: Tasnim Ferdous
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