Wellness, self-care and mental health awareness reading list

These resources and books include both fiction and nonfiction and can be used as a starting point to learn and talk about wellness, self-care, mental health and more.

Finding medical information

Search through thousands of health journals, magazines and newspapers. Tip: Many of these resources are aimed at "consumer" health or written for the patient or caregiver versus articles written for doctors, nurses or health professionals. 

Sample of books available from the UMN Libraries (non-fiction)

Below are a selection of online books and readings on the broad topics. We have more online books, journal articles, and sources in our Libraries Search and article databases.  

Sample of ebooks available from the UMN Libraries (fiction)

Overdrive and Libby app

Libby logoOverdrive and the Libby app are great ways to read ebooks, listen to audiobooks, read magazines and more. These tools are common in public libraries but they are new to the UMN Libraries. We have a growing collection with an early focus with titles from our Libraries Racial Equity Fund. Starting in October 2024, we are pleased to announce that students, faculty, instructors and staff at all the University of Minnesota campuses including the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul), Crookston, Duluth, Morris, and Rochester have access to Overdrive and Libby.

5000 magazines in Overdrive and Libby app

We have over 5000 magazines you can read use Overdrive or the Libby app. Read magazines on news, politics, cooking, crafts, fitness and more including titles like The New Yorker, Harpers, Vanity Fair, etc.

New Yorker in Overdrive.

Sample of memoirs available from the UMN Libraries

What is your study playlist style?

Lo-fi and ambient

Jazz

Nature sounds

Classical and instrumental

World and international music

Virtual Reality for meditation

Virtual Reality Studio

  • Four VR workstations and nine gaming computers, supporting apps that run on Windows, Meta, Steam, Windows Mixed Reality and VisionOS.
  • Visit the VR studio in room 5-132 Health Sciences Education Center

  • Open Monday, Wednesday, Friday 12-5 and Tuesday, Thursday 12-7. Closed on the weekends.

“Meta Quest 2" Headsets

  • Rent or check out for free with your UCard at the Health Sciences Library for one week. Visit lib.umn.edu/services/vr.

Wellness VR App Examples -

Note: You can use these for free at the VR Studio or if you check out a Meta Quest 2 headset. 

Tripp logo.

Tripp

Mindfulness on the go. Using a VR headset you can have a  a deeply immersive, perspective-transforming experience. This app is great for guided meditation for beginners and or more advanced uses. It combines immersive VR with captivating and engaging worldscapes, transporting you into a kaleidoscopic universe of mythical adventures. 

 Tripp example screen.

 

Hoame logo

Hoame

Want to meditate on a beach? Or in front of a glowing orb? Or while floating in space? This is all possible with guided meditation VR like Hoame. It has on-demand pre-recorded classes and the live classes with you and the instructor sitting in a beautiful space while they instruct you to breathe, let go of your thoughts and tune out the outside world. 

Hoame example screen.

 

Last Updated: Jun 2, 2025 4:54 PM