How often do you sit down to read? I don’t mean grabbing a newspaper or catching up on your Facebook feed – just simply sitting somewhere comfortable, with nothing else to take your attention other than the pages of a story.

If the answer is never, and you can barely remember the last time you picked up a book, then you might be one of the UK’s 16 million lapsed readers.

New research for the latest batch of Galaxy Quick Reads shows 1.2 million UK adults have stopped reading due to some form of depression.

But interestingly, those who read for as little as 30 minutes per week, are less likely to suffer from low mood and are 20% more likely to be satisfied with their lives.

The University of Liverpool’s Dr Josie Billington, who partnered on the research, found a wealth of health and wellbeing benefits are available to those who make time to read, from getting a better night’s sleep (43%), to boosting self-esteem (10%) and helping them feel less lonely (19%).

“When people read, they are drawn out of themselves,” says Dr Billington. “You might think when people are depressed, reading reinforces that sense of isolation, but you’re imaginatively entering another world and identifying with another character.

“One of the things people say is, ‘I had no idea other people felt this way’. It’s about feeling that you’re part of a human family, and it’s a form of meditation and [getting] perspective on things.”

I can’t imagine a life without books now, but there were a good few years when I swapped books for films, which I thought were more accessible. I’d always loved literature, but, to be honest, books came way down at the bottom of the pile of things I had to do.

Indeed, in the survey, 42% of the country’s 16 million lapsed readers said lack of time was their biggest reason for noting picking up a book. But we make time for other things, like emails and TV, so why not books, especially when they’ll do us more good?

So does it matter what we read?

A good book, often, is a question of taste – but don’t give up if the first ones you pick up don’t engage you.

Dr Billington adds: “In the preface to The Golden Notebook, Doris Lessing says don’t carry on reading a book you’re not enjoying, and of course the danger of that is you’d never find a book you like, but there are so many books out there, so persevere and find one that really engages you and make reading a habit.”