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
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’s a reading
genre for every literate person on the planet, and whether your
tastes lie in classical literature, poetry, fashion magazines,
biographies, religious texts, young adult books, self-help guides,
street lit, or romance novels, there’s something out there to
capture your curiosity and imagination.
Step away from your
computer for a little while, crack open a book, and replenish your
soul for a little while.