Reading books daily is very important to you because it helps to expand your mind and give you more ideas. Reading has both physical and mental health benefits and these benefits can last for a lifetime.
Scientific Benefits of Reading Books |
Why Should You Read Every Day?
Reading literally changes
your mind. It is for the brain as an exercise in relation to the body.
Reading gives us the
freedom to move around in space, time, and history, and gives us a deeper
perspective on ideas, concepts, feelings, and knowledge.
Reading practice includes
many mental functions, including visual and auditory processes, and aspects
such as fluency, comprehension, and much more.
According to one study, the act of reading and speaking a text aloud is a more effective way to remember information than reading it silently or just hearing it read out loud.
Reading regularly
stimulates optimal patterns of brain development, which helps build strong
pathways in the brain, thus building language, literacy, and social and
emotional skills that can have lifelong health benefits.
Reading helps develop your
thoughts, Improves concentration and memory, enhances your imagination and
empathy, gives you endless knowledge and lessons while keeping your minds active
and strengthens your writing abilities.
Reading every day also has
some amazing health benefits, including cutting stress, helping with depression
and dysthymia, lowering blood pressure and heart rate and reducing the risk of
Alzheimer's disease and late-life cognitive decline.
Reading is like thinking,
praying, talking to friends, expressing your thoughts, listening to other
people's thoughts, enjoying a beautiful view, or taking a walk on the
beach.
When you read, your mind
is activated, and it grows, changes, and creates new relationships between
things, and different patterns depending on the material you are reading.
Why is Reading So
Important?
Reading is very important
to you because it helps to expand your mind and give you more ideas.
If you are aware of the
purpose and process of reading, you have to decide on the styles and methods
that need to be applied to best suit the purpose and reading materials.
Decoding the message is
very important because without decoding the message the reader fails to
understand it.
The purpose of reading is
to analyze what has been read, remember what has been read, and follow
technical instructions, to gain an in-depth understanding, or critically
evaluate the material.
Research shows that
reading not only helps develop fluid intelligence (the ability to think
logically, solve problems, spot patterns and meanings) but also develops
reading comprehension (comprehension of a readable text) and emotional
intelligence.
And when reading improves
from fluid intelligence, this, in turn, improves reading comprehension.
Research at Stanford
University has shown a neurological difference between reading for the purpose
of enjoyment and reading with focus, such as reading for an exam. Depending on
the reading pattern, blood flows to different nerve regions.
Also surprisingly, a 2011
study showed an overlap between the regions the brain uses to comprehend
stories and networks designated for interacting with others.
Reading Strengthens Your
Brain
Your brain decodes a
series of abstract symbols and converts its results into complex thoughts, and
that's an impressive process.
The reading brain can be
likened to the collective effort of a symphony orchestra, as different regions
of the brain work together like musical instruments to maximize your ability to
decipher written speech.
Using magnetic resonance
imaging scans, researchers have confirmed that the reading includes a complex
network of circuits and signals in the brain. As your reading ability matures,
these networks become stronger and more complex.
Reading practice includes
several mental functions, including visual and auditory processes, and
distinguishing phonemes (sounds), and includes aspects such as fluency,
comprehension, and much more. And the same nerve regions that a particular
experience excites are also activated when reading about it.
Reading changes the
structure of the brain, says "Marian Wolf", a cognitive scientist and
reading scholar, in her book "Proust And The Squid: The Story And Science
Of The Reading Brain": Humans invented reading only five thousand years
ago, and with this invention, the brain was rearranged, which expanded the ways
we think, and this, in turn, left its mark on the mental development of the
human race".
She adds: "The
inventions of our previous ancestors would not have been possible without the
mind's superior ability to create new connections between its existing parts, a
process that occurs due to the brain's flexibility and its ability to form anew
through experiences."
Haskins Labs' research for
"the Science of the Spoken and Written Word" indicates that reading,
unlike watching or listening to media, gives the brain more time to stop,
think, process, and imagine.
In addition, reading can
slow the mental decline that occurs with age, and maintain brain health.
Reading Increases Your
Emotional Intelligence
Literary fiction is a
social experience, and the process of reading also plays an important social
function. When you read literature, you imagine the event, situation, people
and details described by the writer, and you become completely immersed in the
story.
Famous novelist Anne
Lamott says in her book, “Bird By Bird: Some Instructions On Writing And
Life,”
“For some of us, books are
as important as nearly anything on planet Earth. What a miracle it is that out
of those deaf, flat, small square sheets of worlds flow from beyond worlds,
singing to you, comforting you, calming you, or arousing you. Books help us
understand who we are and how we should behave. Books show us what society and
friendship mean, they teach us how to live and how to die”.
Psychologists David Comer
Kidd at Harvard University and Emanuele Castano at the University of Trento
have shown that reading literary fiction develops the ability to monitor and
understand people's feelings, which is an important skill in managing complex
social relationships.
“What great writers do is
turn you into a writer,” says Kidd. In literary fiction, incomplete features of
characters urge your mind to try to understand the minds of others. ”
The researchers also found
that reading a novel activates the connections in the brain responsible for
receiving language.
Dr. Gregory Burns Ph.D., a
clinical psychologist in Dunedin, says: “The neurological changes that we found
linked to physical sensation and movement systems suggest that reading a novel
can transport you into the protagonist’s body. We already knew that good
stories could put you in someone else's shoes, albeit in an implicit sense. Now
we see that something biological might happen. ”
Reading Improves
Concentration and Memory
In 30 minutes, the average
person can divide his time between busy with a task, checking e-mail, talking
to colleagues, following social media, and interacting with notifications.
Reading not only improves
the connections in the brain but also increases attention span, concentration,
and memory. If you are having difficulty concentrating, reading can increase
your attention span.
When you read a book, all
of your attention is focused on the story or coming to a better understanding
of a particular topic, the rest of the world is absent, and you can immerse
yourself in every little detail of your book.
Best creative writing
books encourage you to think in series, so the more you read, the more your
brains can link cause to effect.
If you ride for
transportation, for example, try reading for 15 to 20 minutes before you go to
work, and you will be surprised how much better your ability to focus will be
when you get to work.
Reading helps increase
overall brain function and helps protect memory and thinking skills, especially
as you get older.
Reading every day can increase memory and slow cognitive decline in later life.
Read Your Favorite Books
In a world where
information is new, reading becomes the best source for continuous learning,
knowledge, and acquisition of that currency.
Reading requires patience,
persistence, and determination, and is just like any skill you should practice
continuously and regularly.
Research has shown that a
person who reads every day gets better at it over time and feels more positive
too.
Reading helps improve
memory and empathy and critical thinking skills.
Reading with your children
builds warm and happy bonds with books, enhances their later school
performance, builds good communication skills, strengthens the prediction engine,
and increases the likelihood that children will find reading enjoyable in the
future.
Reading every day also has
some amazing health benefits, including cutting stress, helping with
depression, and reducing the risk of Alzheimer's disease.
Whether you prefer reading
on your smartphone or holding a book in your hand, make time and space for
reading.
The next time you choose a
book to read, pause to think about what you're reading, as the lines you read
may affect you more than you can imagine.
Benefits of Reading Books: Summary
Reading books daily is
very important to you because it benefits both your physical and mental health,
and these benefits can last for a lifetime.
Research shows that
regular reading:
- Strengthens your brain connectivity.
- Increases your ability to empathize.
- Expands your emotional intelligence.
- Boosts your vocabulary and comprehension.
- Improves concentration and memory.
- Fights stress and depression symptoms.
- Prevents dementia and cognitive decline as you age.
- lowers blood pressure and heart rate.
- Aids in sleep readiness.
- Contributes to live longer.