Reading can be an adventure, a solace, an exploration, a lesson, an escape, and even a trail. When you open a book, you open your mind and your imagination to another world. Have you noticed how when you’re immersed in a wonderful book, your whole sense of time gets distorted? You can put your head up and hours have passed! Reading is also excellent food for the brain and builds our vocabulary and perspective. Being able to read ultimately gives you access to all sorts of new knowledge, skills, cultures, people and worlds.
Health benefits include:
- Help you develop and retain focus, concentration and memory Reading requires our focus and concentration, yet holds it in a light, unconscious way. When reading non-fiction, we expand our knowledge through building up our memory of what we've read. When reading fiction, we need to remember characters and plot, and this helps develop and retain our memory.
- Can be used to signal sleep time In our "busyness" addicted lives, it can be difficult to switch off at the end of the day. Many of us face insomnia and toss and turn, trying to get to sleep. Reading for just a few minutes each night signals to the brain that it's time to relax and go to sleep. We quickly forget about our world. This is why we often nod off when reading!
- Develop empathy and compassion As we read, we not only get exposure to a rich array of people's lives, it is like we get to stand in their shoes and see the world from their perspective. In this way, reading helps us develop and expand our compassion and empathy towards other people, cultures and animals.
- Delay and prevent cognitive decline Reading is a great workout for the brain and has been shown to build our cognitive reserve. This lessens cognitive decline and helps reduce the risk of getting dementia even if your brain has the physical conditions.
- Reduce stress Research from the University of Sussex showed that it takes only six minutes of reading to reduce your heart rate, settle your nerves and relax muscle tension. It provides these physical benefits to our body and can reduce stress by a huge 68%.
- Alleviate anxiety and depression When reading, we escape our current world and enter into the world depicted in the book. It's amazing how quickly this happens. This gives our mind a rest from our everyday concerns and helps to alleviate anxiety and depression. Entering the flow state is a restful and remarkable experience.
- Can be social Reading alone is lovely, yet so is reading with others. There's something so enjoyable about being amongst people engrossed in their own books, reading. You can also join a bookclub and share your experience, interpretation and opinion about books - listening to others talk about the book can open your mind to see different perspectives. Visiting a library or favourite bookshop is also a joy. It is wonderful for getting exposed to different books and viewpoints.
“Reading is the sole means by which we slip, involuntarily, often helplessly, into another’s skin, another’s voice, another’s soul.”
- Joyce Carol Oates