10 Benefits of Reading: Why You Should Read Every Day
When was the last time you read a book, or a
substantial magazine article? Do your daily reading habits center around
tweets, Facebook updates, or the directions on your instant oatmeal packet? If
you’re one of countless people who don’t make a habit of reading regularly, you
might be missing out: reading has a significant number of benefits, and just a
few benefits of reading are listed below.
1. Mental Stimulation
Studies have shown that staying mentally
stimulated can slow
the progress of (or possibly even prevent)
Alzheimer’s and Dementia, since keeping your brain active and engaged prevents
it from losing power. Just like any other muscle in the body, the brain
requires exercise to keep it strong and healthy, so the phrase “use it or lose
it” is particularly apt when it comes to your mind. Doing
puzzles and playing games such
as chess have also been found to be helpful with cognitive stimulation.
2. Stress Reduction
No matter how much stress you have at work, in your personal relationships,
or countless other issues faced in daily life, it all just slips away when you
lose yourself in a great story. A well-written novel can transport you to other
realms, while an engaging article will distract you and keep you in the present
moment, letting tensions drain away and allowing you to relax.
3. Knowledge
Everything you read fills your head with new
bits of information, and you never know when it might come in handy. The more
knowledge you have, the better-equipped you are to tackle any challenge you’ll
ever face.
Additionally, here’s a bit of food for
thought: should you ever find yourself in dire circumstances, remember that
although you might lose everything else—your job, your possessions, your money,
even your health—knowledge can never be taken from you.
4. Vocabulary Expansion
This goes with the above topic: the more you
read, the more words you gain exposure to, and they’ll inevitably make their
way into your everyday vocabulary. Being articulate and well-spoken is of
great help in any profession, and knowing that you can speak to higher-ups with
self-confidence can be an enormous boost to your self-esteem. It could even aid
in your career, as those who are well-read, well-spoken, and knowledgeable on a
variety of topics tend to get promotions more quickly (and more often) than
those with smaller vocabularies and lack of awareness of literature, scientific
breakthroughs, and global events.
Reading books is also vital for
learning new
languages, as non-native speakers gain exposure to
words used in context, which will ameliorate their own speaking and writing
fluency.
5. Memory Improvement
When you read a book, you have to remember an
assortment of characters, their backgrounds, ambitions, history, and nuances,
as well as the various arcs and sub-plots that weave their way through every
story. That’s a fair bit to remember, but brains are marvellous things and can
remember these things with relative ease. Amazingly enough, every
new memory you create forges new synapses (brain pathways)and strengthens existing ones, which assists in
short-term memory recall as well as stabilizing moods. How cool is
that?
6. Stronger Analytical Thinking Skills
Have you ever read an amazing mystery novel,
and solved the mystery yourself before finishing the book? If so, you were able
to put critical and analytical thinking to work by taking note of all the
details provided and sorting them out to determine “whodunnit”.
That same ability to analyze details also
comes in handy when it comes to critiquing the plot; determining whether it was
a well-written piece, if the characters were properly developed, if the
storyline ran smoothly, etc. Should you ever have an opportunity to discuss the
book with others, you’ll be able to state your opinions clearly, as you’ve taken
the time to really consider all the aspects involved.
7. Improved Focus and Concentration
In our internet-crazed world, attention is
drawn in a million different directions at once as we multi-task through every
day. In a single 5-minute span, the average person will divide their time
between working on a task, checking email, chatting with a couple of people
(via gchat, skype, etc.), keeping an eye on twitter, monitoring their
smartphone, and interacting with co-workers. This type of ADD-like behaviour causes
stress levels to rise, and lowers
our productivity.
When you read a book, all of your attention
is focused on the story—the rest of the world just falls away, and you can
immerse yourself in every fine detail you’re absorbing. Try reading for 15-20
minutes before work (i.e. on your morning commute, if you take public transit),
and you’ll be surprised at how much more focused you are once you get to the
office.
8. Better Writing Skills
This goes hand-in-hand with the expansion of
your vocabulary: exposure to published, well-written work has a noted effect on
one’s own writing, as observing the cadence, fluidity, and writing styles of
other authors will invariably influence your own work. In the same way that
musicians influence one another, and painters use techniques established by
previous masters, so do writers learn how to craft prose by reading the works
of others.
9. Tranquility
In addition to the relaxation that
accompanies reading a good book, it’s possible that the subject you read about
can bring about immense inner peace and tranquility. Reading spiritual texts can lower blood pressure and bring about an immense
sense of calm, while reading
self-help books has been shown to help people suffering from
certain mood
disorders and mild mental illnesses.
10. Free Entertainment
Though many of us like to buy books so we can
annotate them and dog-ear pages for future reference, they can be quite pricey.
For low-budget entertainment, you can visit your local
library and bask in the glory of the countless tomes
available there for free. Libraries have books on every subject imaginable, and
since they rotate their stock and constantly get new books, you’ll never run
out of reading materials.
If you happen to live in an area that doesn’t
have a local library, or if you’re mobility-impaired and can’t get to one
easily, most libraries have their books available in PDF or ePub format so you
can read them on your e-reader, iPad, or your computer screen. There are
also many sources
online where you can download free e-books.
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