So true. Tell us a little about how poetry could benefit our mental health.

Reading poetry helps us to express our feelings (Mazza & Prescott, 1981) and promotes self-discovery (Mazza, 1981).

During the pandemic, researchers at the University of Plymouth and Nottingham Trent University found that many people who took to sharing, discussing and writing poetry as a means to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic experienced “demonstrable positive impact on their wellbeing”. Just over half (51%) of respondents indicated that reading and/or writing poetry had helped them deal with feelings of loneliness or isolation, and for a further 50% it had helped with feelings of anxiety and depression.

Apparently, reading a poem out loud can activate your relaxation response and bring about a sense of calm. It’s all to do with the way it slows and controls your breathing rate, which in turn stimulates your parasympathetic nervous system and can lead to many beneficial effects, according to Dr Michael Mosley.

Starting your week with some poetry is a lovely pause on the autopilot of your day – a little buffer before you get swept up into “all the things” and a chance to ask yourself how you’d like to start the day and the week, with intention, from a place of reflection.

Are there any ways we can get this routine ‘wrong’?

I guess there’s the chance you get lost on your device and caught up in other things in your inbox, rather than sitting with your poem.

One Good Thing: why you should start your week with some poetry