The Only Thing Your Home Needs from You This Weekend

读ing is therapy. Reading allows you to disengage your brain from the worries and stressors of life, and gives you a recharging break. In fact, reading a book is scientifically proven to bemore relaxingthan taking a walk or drinking a cup of tea. Indeed, in a mere six minutes, reading leads toslower heart rates and reduced muscle tension. According to a study conducted by Dr. David Lewis of the University of Sussex, reading “is more than merely a distraction but an active engaging of the imagination as the words on the printed page stimulate your creativity and cause you to enter what is essentially an altered state of consciousness.”

In honor of Labor Day weekend, let’s not work — at all — even on our houses, at least for a little while. Plus, guess what? This year, Labor Day falls on another lesser known holiday:National Read a Book Day. So this weekend you can celebrate both days.

Go back to what you used to do in the good old days and try to pick up an actual, physical book with words printed on pages that rustle when you turn them. There’s nothing quite like the tactile experience of a book as you’re reading it. Even if you’ve been an e-reader for years, stepping back in time to the way things used to be might be a portal to those far more carefree days when you stayed in bed on Saturday mornings devouring your latest “Anne of Green Gables” book.

Once you’ve got a book picked out, choose a spot in your home, deliberately. Will you snuggle up in the corner of the couch against the white down pillows? Or will you escape to the back porch and crack open the pages to the whistle of birdsong and the smell of late summer thunderstorms? Maybe a bubble bath will wrap you in steam while you lose yourself in a novel. Whatever place you land in, reading allows you to notice, remember, and enjoy the coziest, most welcoming and intimate spaces in your home.

It’s not often we make ourselves stop. But we could all use a pause, a healthy escape in the form of a book. So this weekend, we’re going to say yes to reading. Now tell us: Which book will it be?

You can catch up with weekend projectsright here. Share your progress with us and others by posting updates and photos on Instagram and Twitter with the hashtag#atweekendproject.

Remember: This is about improvement, not perfection. Each week you can either choose to work on the assignment we’ve sent you, or tackle another project you’ve been meaning to get to. It’s also completely okay to skip a weekend if you’re busy or not feeling the assignment.