Importance of Reading Books - 6 Benefits of Reading Books
Importance of Reading Books - In what ways does reading books benefit human beings? Is it merely an enjoyable experience or are there additional benefits?
In the early years of life, reading provides many benefits to a child, including mental and emotional development. Inculcating the habit of reading enhances critical thinking skills, increases knowledge, improves inventiveness, expands vocabulary and generally enhances intelligence. The benefits of reading begin in early childhood and continue well into old age. In this article, we discuss the importance of books in our life and a few ways that reading books can change your brain and body.
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Neurological benefits of reading
In the early years, children learn more quickly than at any other time in their lives. Their brain cells are strengthened by new connections as their parents talk, sing, and read to them. As a child learns to read, it significantly affects their cognitive development that leads to faster learning.
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Educational benefits of reading
The importance of reading books for students can never be overstated. In the early years, reading supports a child's academic success and fosters a lifelong love of learning. Having strong oral language skills leads to greater general knowledge and command of a language. This makes it easier for children to learn and be fluent in more than one language. Additionally, they tend to pay more attention and concentrate better. As most books follow a chronological structure - beginning, middle, and end - reading encourages the brain to think similarly, so it spends more time building a story instead of rushing through every detail.
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Physiological benefits of reading
The ability to read at a young age displays a child's individuality and poise. It fosters maturity and discipline, stimulates curiosity about people, places, and things around us and helps to inspire creativity and imagination in children. When the child chooses to sit and read, he/she can channel his/her physical energy.
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Linguistic benefits of reading
As soon as children learn to read, they are exposed to a variety of books, which helps them gain knowledge, build a richer vocabulary, develop better writing and spelling skills, and become more articulate and effective communicators. Children, as well as adults, also gain the ability to delve deeper into the mechanics of a language and appreciate it all the more for it.
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Here are a few more reasons why reading is an important habit to cultivate in students.
Importance of Reading Books - Reading strengthens and exercises your brain
What is the importance of reading? The 17th century English writer Joseph Addison once said, "Reading is to the mind as exercise is to the body."
What exactly does reading do to your brain?
Reading stimulates the brain through a complex network of circuits and signals. Additionally, as you become more proficient at reading, these networks become more sophisticated and stronger. Like your muscles, the brain also has a "use it or lose it" policy. Your cognitive abilities may decline if you don't exercise the mind regularly. So, when you read every day, you are actually working to keep them healthy and strong, highlighting thus the importance of reading books for students.
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Importance of Reading Books - Reading enhances your knowledge and gives a greater perspective
“A small room full of books is not a small room at all”
Another reason why reading is important is that it allows you to gain a greater understanding of the world and others. Through reading, you can see the world from a different perspective, one that is not your own. Reading can bring you outside of your closed-off bubble. Reading allows you to experience the lives of others without having to leave your comfort zone or travelling anywhere. Every time you read something new, your mind is filled with new bits of information, and you never know when it might be useful. The greater your knowledge, the better equipped you will be to handle any challenge.
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Importance of Reading Books - Reading improves your focus
The ability to concentrate and focus for long periods is an essential skill for any student. As a result of constant multitasking, notifications, and social media apps, this skill is becoming increasingly rare. A Microsoft study confirms this finding, that people lose focus after only eight seconds. Thankfully, reading allows you to practice focusing on just one thing at a time. Novels, for example, require your full attention to transport you to another world and, in order to get the most out of a non-fiction book, you need to be fully engaged and present. Hence, if you wish to focus more, you can practice by reading books.
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Importance of Reading Books - Reading builds your vocabulary
Students who read regularly from a young age develop a large vocabulary. If you read more, you'll become exposed to more words, which will eventually end up in your everyday vocabulary. In addition, the size of your vocabulary can affect numerous areas of your life, including standardized test scores, college admissions, and employment opportunities. Learning new languages also requires reading books, since non-native speakers gain exposure to words used in context, which improves their speaking and writing skills.
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Importance of Reading Books - Reading boosts your memory
Do you often forget things? Do you have a lot of to-do lists, but you're having trouble remembering what's on them? One of the benefits of reading books is that it can improve your memory. Whenever you read a non-fiction book, you also consume a lot of information about the topic you are reading about.
In the same way, every time you read a novel, you have to memorize tons of details about its plot and subplots, the characters and relationships among them, and the setting of the story. As a result of all this new information, new memories are created. Moreover, every new memory strengthens or creates new connections. Therefore, reading every day can help you improve your memory and you learn to store new information and recall memories more efficiently.
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Importance of Reading Books - Reading improves your mental health and reduces stress
Another benefit of reading is that it can reduce stress. It doesn't matter how much stress you have at work, in your relationships, or with countless other daily life issues, everything just drifts away when you get lost in a great story. The practice of using books as a form of therapy is called bibliotherapy.
Studies have shown that reading for 30 minutes can lower blood pressure, heart rate, and psychological distress. You can relax by reading an article that engages you and keeps you focused in the present, letting the tension fade away. Apart from the relaxation that reading a good book brings, you may also find that the subject you read about brings about a great deal of inner peace and tranquillity.
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The skill of reading can be developed and nurtured. The current world is filled with many distractions thanks to the internet and various social media platforms. You can't just immerse yourself in reading by switching off the world in an instant. That is where the true value of reading books comes in. The benefits and importance of books in our life is multifaceted and varied. So, challenge yourself by stepping outside of your comfort zone, and you may even discover a new passion. You'll be amazed at what reading can do for you!
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Author - The author of this article is Yashodhra Arora, who is a Counselling Psychologist, with extensive experience in Career Counselling for high school students.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
By reading, you can relate to other people and show consideration for their feelings and thoughts. Apparently, reading can improve your empathy. Having the ability to read about other people's lives helps you develop the skills necessary to better understand the world from someone else's perspective.
Reading improves your concentration and memory, reduces stress and helps you relax, strengthens your writing abilities and expands your vocabulary, enhances your knowledge and increases your imagination and creativity.
Reading makes you feel better about yourself and your life. As a result, you feel less stressed and less depressed, have greater self-esteem, and can cope better with challenges.
If you're new to reading, you should read at least a little bit every day to get used to it. In general, a person should read books or other essentials for 30 minutes to an hour each day.
By reading, you can increase your vocabulary. It helps you remember new words and pick them up more easily, making them part of your everyday vocabulary as you use them every day.