Reading books has been believed to give a lot of benefits for your brain. Improving vocabulary, relieving stress and slowing down mental disorder are some of the health benefits you can gain by reading book. Reading books benefits both your mental and physical health and those benefits can last a lifetime.
Let’s discuss each of the following health benefits of reading books you may not be aware of.
The first health benefit you can get when you read books is it can relieve your stress. No matter what you read, a novel, a newspaper or a great story, it will distract you from your daily tasks and issues.
When you read a story, for instance, your mind will be transported into another realm, while an article will keep you focused on the present.
There was a study conducted by the University of Sussex in 2009. It found out that there was a 68% reduction of stress levels just by reading for 6 minutes.
Relieving stress can also be done by some other ways, such as storytelling. You can get all these health benefits of storytelling for mental health-stress reliever. There are some other ways of relieving stress too, such as gardening, watching movies and many more. Do what you like and let the stress go away!
Reading books will affect your brain the most, in a positive way. Reading can change your mind. There was a study conducted in 2013 which showed the effect of reading a novel on the brain.
The participants were told to read the novel “Pompeii” for a period of 9 days. The MRT scans showed that more parts of the brain lit up with the activity as the tension was built.
Not only that, the somatosensory cortex, the part which responds to physical sensations like movement and pain, is also increased.
Reading is considered as one part of a regular sleep routine. You can prove it. Try reading a book before you sleep. Avoid reading from your phone or laptop as the light emitted by your device could keep you awake and t will lead to other unwanted health outcomes.
Some doctors even recommend people to read somewhere other than their bedroom, especially if they have trouble falling asleep.
Sleeping is a part of a healthy routine. Make sure to get enough sleep every day, at least 7 to 8 hours a day. You can see the complete benefits of sleeping 8 hours a night. You can also consider reading these benefits dog sleeping with you. Isn’t it fun to have a dog accompanying you while you’re sleeping?
There was a study which involved around 3,600 participants. The result of the study showed that book readers lived about two years longer than people who didn’t read. The difference in longevity was significantly greater than that observed when reading magazines or newspaper. Read more to get more years living!
So, if you wish to live longer, pick up a book and get cracking!
Reading book is able to improve cognitive skills and slow cognitive decline amongst the elderly. The National Institute on Aging even recommends reading as one of the ways to keep your mind engaged and active. Therefore, it helps maintaining overall brain health.
Not only beneficial for those young people, reading books can also be beneficial for the elderly. As we know, older people tend to have cognitive decline and impairment. Fortunately, reading stimulates and increase the flow of blood, oxygen and nutrients to the brain.
So, reading is believed to provide better cognitive function. Besides, it is also stated that reading may help prevent beta-amyloid deposits from developing on the brain, which are the characteristics of Alzheimer’s disease.
If you want to know more about Alzheimer’s disease, you can try these ways to prevent Alzheimer and prevent dementia.
Starting a new habit may not be easy. To make reading as a habit, you can follow these strategies, such as choosing a topic that you’re interested in.
Never force yourself to keep reading it, choose another book instead. If you don’t feel like you want to read a book, you can start by reading short stories, then you can continue to longer-length fiction novels.
Reading books is a great way to boost your health. You can read more about it in benefits of reading which bring a lot of impacts on your mental and physical health.