When was the last time you took the time to read a book, or a long article in your favorite magazine? Do your reading habits revolve around Facebook, Twiter, or the ingredient list of your instant soup? If you’re one of the many people who aren’t used to reading every day, you’re missing out on a lot of benefits of reading
To make the most of the benefits of reading, we would advise that you read several books of different genres. A book costs little, but the lessons you can learn from them can be very beneficial. Reading has many advantages and benefits. From learning new things to training yourself, and developing your vocabulary and your oral expression, reading can greatly contribute to personal development, in the sense that it will have an impact on your mind.
It’s also one of the best investments, regardless of your age. Anyway here are five benefits of reading why you should swap that TV control for a good book:
Benefits Of Reading
1. Reading Stimulates The Brain
All lovers of reading will tell you: reading makes you happy… and sometimes a little addicted too. And not only is this activity good for morale, it also helps boost our brains. Just like knitting that stimulates neural connections and allows them to function more efficiently, reading makes memory work and helps keep the mind clearer. So it’s a real gymnastics of the brain that takes place when you immerse yourself in a book. According to an article published by Harvard Medical School , reading regularly would even help reduce cognitive deterioration. In short, if you want to keep your brains healthy, open a book.
According to a study published in the journal Neurology, reading a lifetime would help keep the brain in shape. Of the 294 participants who died on average at the age of 89, those who engaged in “mental” activities such as reading had fewer memory problems than those who did not. People who were regular readers at an older age were less than 32 percent at risk of mental decline than their average mental activity. People who engaged in little or no mental activity experienced a decline that increased in speed by 48 percent compared to the average mental activity group.
2. Reduces Stress And Anxiety
When we talk about the benefits of reading, yes it does help in reducing stress and anxiety. Whether it’s work-related stress or daily worries, it doesn’t matter, reading decreases our anxiety. Another advantage of reading is that an interesting article can distract us. Reading has the ability to alleviate our anxiety and relax completely. When you read, you no longer think about your daily problems, you are transported elsewhere, which decreases your anxiety.
Your mind is quieter. In addition, if you choose books related to personal development or spiritual books, you will find answers to questions or problems as well as methods to apply. You relativize and then have a constructive approach to take charge and move forward. The accumulated tensions disappear and you are in a better mood.
According to a 2009 study by the British University of Sussex, reading is the most effective way to combat stress. Participants needed only six minutes to calm down once they had a book in hand. Reading even soothes more than listening to music, drinking a cup of coffee or tea or even taking a walk. “To relax, no matter what book you read. To be drawn into a story allows you to escape the worries and tensions of the day and get caught up in the author’s fantasy world,” researcher David Lewis told The Telegraph newspaper.
3. Reading Helps You Sleep Better
If you have trouble finding sleep,reading can help. Reading before sleeping soothes your mind and makes it easier to fall asleep. Paper support is recommended in this case, or a digital reader whose brightness is not aggressive to the eye. Indeed, screens are bad for sleep and excite more than they soothe.
Many sleep experts recommend a relaxing routine before sleeping to soothe the mind and prepare the body for sleep. Reading (with a nightlight) can be a great help, provided the book is not an impossible thriller to let go of. And we’re talking about paper books because the light from electronic devices signals the brain that it’s time to get up, which makes it easy to fall asleep.
A study conducted by the famous Mayo Clinic explains that by opening a book every night, a ritual is established. A signal is then sent to our body to make it clear that it is time to rest. But beware, this does not apply to readings on computers, tablets, or smartphones. These electronic devices return a blue light (LED) that impairs sleep quality and can even deregulate the biological clock.
4. Improves Memory
To fully understand a book, one must remember a multitude of information: the characters, their past, their intentions, their experiences, then the nuances, and all the secondary actions that intertwine with the main action. That’s a lot of information to remember, but the brain is a miraculous organ that will remember it with surprising ease.
What is most amazing is that each time a new memory is formed, new synapses (areas of contact between neurons) are created and existing synapses are solidified. This means that reading, by forming new memories, will increase our short-term memory retention capabilities and has a regulatory effect on our mood. Pretty amazing, right?
The brain is a muscle that needs training to function optimally. There is a better understanding of why reading can help fight certain diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease. Developing memory and cognitive abilities is one of the benefits of reading that is very valuable.
5. Improves Writing
Another argument in favor of reading is that better writing goes hand in hand with enriching one’s vocabulary. Reading published and well-written works will have a significant effect on your own writing style. Observing the cadence, fluidity, and style of other authors will inevitably influence your own way of writing. Just as musicians influence the music of their colleagues, and painters are inspired by the technique of masters, writers create stories based on the work of other authors.
Reading is the best way to get an extensive vocabulary that you can use on a daily basis. The more or more you read, the more you enrich your vocabulary. A study conducted by the University of Berkeley in California even estimates that children’s literature exposes children to 50% more words than a television show. And the more regular this exposure is in the small reader, the more he will become good at school and develop his intelligence.
Conclusion
Although there are other benefits of reading, we have tried to compile the most prominent ones. Keeping time to take care of yourself is important. While it’s important to take care of one’s body through sport and nutrition, for example, the same is true with one’s mind and reading. Whichever literary genre you choose, you can always find a book that will captivate you. So now that you know the benefits of reading, you have no more excuses, it’s time to turn off your computer and phone and settle down comfortably to devote yourself to reading as these benefits of reading will help you in many ways.
