Queen Camilla admits she ‘cuts herself off’ when ‘everything’s going wrong’ but for important reason

Just like many of us, Queen Camilla has bad days from time to time, but her unique coping mechanism often sees her ‘cutting herself off from the world’ when ‘everything’s going wrong’ for one key reason

Life in the spotlight can sometimes be stressful, but Queen Camilla has one key way to help decompress after a bad day (
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When it comes to bad days, let’s face it, we’ve all had them. From spilling coffee down your favourite blouse and getting caught in a downpour, through to missing an important meeting due to a flat tyre, there’s no shortage of ways a day can go wrong and completely derail our moods. Yet while we may not often think of the royals being privy to such a series of unfortunate events, Queen Camilla has recently revealed that she too sometimes has days where things simply don’t go to plan – but she does have a special way of trying to decompress after a stressful and worrying day.

Speaking on the latest episode of the Queen’s Reading Room podcast, Queen Camilla revealed that she often turns to books when her day’s got off to a rocky start, and finds that they help her to detach from her stress by “cutting herself off from the rest of the world ” and losing herself in a fictional one

Getting stuck into a good book is one of Camilla’s key ways to decompress after a hectic day ( 
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Getty Images)

Speaking on the podcast, Queen Camilla spoke fondly of being able to lose herself in a good book ( 
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PA)
Speaking from beside a roaring fire, the Queen Consort told listeners: “When you’ve had a sort of mad day and everything’s going wrong, you can just sit down, take a deep breath, pick up a book and there you go – you’re transported into another world.”

She then continued: “You forget what’s going on around you, and it’s a wonderful feeling of getting really engrossed and cutting yourself off from the rest of the world.”

As well as being a pastime approved by the royals, reading has also been proven to be hugely beneficial to mental health, with just five minutes of reading a day having slashed stress levels by 20% according to the podcast.

As well as helping the Queen Consort to unwind, reading has also been found to have numerous other health benefits too! ( 
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In addition, if you read for just one minute extra, research by Dr David Lewis at the University of Sussex has revealed that a 6 minute reading break could actually triple the stress reduction and see levels drop by a whopping 60%! And if that wasn’t enough, the same study also found that reading was more effective at stress reduction than music, drinking a cup of tea, going for a walk and playing video games!

As well as helping to reduce stress, reading also carries with it a few other unexpected benefits too, such as offering escapism from troubling or difficult aspects of real life, or even improving cognitive function and memory in both early and later life. Some studies at the York University in Canada, have even suggested that reading fiction could also improve a person’s empathy!