Will you please tell us about it and what you have found in the research recently about it?

Yeah, I feel like I need to start at the very beginning.

We'll go back into my childhood, but it will be really quick.

I promise.

You know, I have always been a reader and a writer as well.

I was the kid who always had the book.

who would do everything to get out of everything else so she could just go somewhere and read.

How do you believe, because you've been doing so much work on this, that is so interesting, that this motivation to read can enhance creating empathy a culture of relationships and community in a classroom setting? How can it help us with restorative practices?

[laughs]

Just six.

Research shows, yeah, it only takes six minutes to get your body into that relaxed state.

But if you keep going, a really exciting piece of research shows that if you read for 30 minutes straight, then you have the same impact on your parasympathetic nervous system as if you did 30 minutes of yoga.

Now, your muscles don't feel the same, [laughs] but your nervous system feels just as relaxed.

The act of reading really does change our bodies on a cellular level that over time can add up and multiply and really have positive impacts on our life, on our wellbeing, and even our lifespan.

Readers have been shown in longitudinal research to live up to two years longer than the rest of the non-reading population.

Now, can you talk about the different kinds of books that do different things to our nervous system?