Reading Makes You Smarter!
Given the options we have all around us these days, why would anyone ever read a book? We have movies to entertain us, video games to mesmerize us, cell phones to distract us, and the latest reality TV to give us something to talk about. If that’s not enough, our computers finish us off, turning us all into proper modern zombies.
With so many buttons to push and screens to stare at who has the time or patience to read a book?
Why should you bother anyway?
Because reading makes you smarter! Reading books gives your brain a workout like most modern technology never could. Whether you’re into novels or non-fiction, horror or romance, paperbacks or digital readers, the act of reading makes your mind work in a different way. And the benefits aren’t just short term.
Reading now can have a lasting impact on your life, all the way into your twilight years. So put down your video game controller and pick up a novel, and start realizing the advantages of reading!
Not convinced? Fine. Here are 5 reasons to read more books:
5 Positive Benefits of Reading More Books
1. Increase Your Vocabulary:Reading helps you to learn new words, not just synonyms for words and concepts you already know, but words you may never have even thought of! Articulate people make good first impressions, whether meeting new friends or in a job interview. It may not be fair, but people who express themselves well just seem smarter.
2. Exercise Your Brain: The concentration and comprehension required when reading books gets those synapses firing in your brain. Reading is an active pursuit that forces you to think, compared to watching television where you simply sit and take everything in. And many studies show that older people who continue to keep their minds sharp are less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.
3. Broaden Your Knowledge: Reading about a subject that might be foreign to you such as a law drama, an adventure with a physicist as the protagonist, or a military thriller can open you up to all kinds of new ideas. You’re friends will be stunned when you can explain the in-depth details of the latest sensational media trial. You don’t have to tell them you learned it all from a John Grisham novel!
4. Reduce Stress: What’s more relaxing that sitting outside and reading a novel on a lazy summer day? Many of our lives are packed full of responsibilities from morning to night. Taking a few minutes to slow down can do a great deal for your mental health. Reading is an activity you can do at your own speed, without flickering images in your face.
5. Flex Your Imagination: A good writer will paint a picture of characters, settings and scenes, but they can only do so much for you. The rest is up to your imagination. In TV and movies everything is given to you, but with books you have to come up with the details on your own. Reading encourages an active imagination, in adults as well as children.
Read Every Day!
All of the above adds up to a healthy brain, a great imagination, a solid vocabulary, a greater knowledge of the world, and a less stressful life. Can you get all of that from the latest DVD release or your favorite iPhone app?
With all of the distractions of modern life, people still read books. And, there is a certain tactile joy to holding a book, turning the pages, feeling the texture of the paper. Finding the time to read is important for your health and general well-being.
And finding the time is getting easier. With the advent of e-readers you can literally take hundreds of books with you everywhere you go. With these leaps in technology, who knows how long physical books may be around? Will we see a day when everything is digital and paperback novels are history?
With the ongoing march of technology, not to mention the push to conserve natural resources, it’s probably inevitable. But until then we can enjoy the archaic written technology known as books, and reap the advantages of reading.
For you, what is the most important benefit to reading books?
- 19% Increased my vocabulary
- 15% Exercise my brain
- 37% Broaden my knowledge
- 9% Reduce Stress
- 17% Use my imagination
- 3% I haven't read a book since the first PlayStation came out.
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