5 Ways Reading Makes You Smarter, Healthier And Helps You Live Longer
If you want to improve your brain power and your mental health, the solution may be even easier than you think. It turns out that reading makes you smarter, healthier and it can even help you live longer.
Significant numbers of people are struggling with depression, anxiety, stress, unhappiness and loneliness today, so it's smart to consider strategies to feel better and live better. Interestingly, despite its solitary and sedentary nature, reading can enhance your mood and emotions, improve your relationships and boost your health.
So what are the benefits of reading? Why is reading important? Is reading worth the time? Actually, reading has some terrific benefits.
Can reading improve your health and help you live longer? Yes. Reading can improve your health, and enhance your longevity as well. Research published in Social Science & Medicine found that reading books can help you live longer, according to a study.
The longer life span may be the result of some of the other benefits like better thinking, better relationships and better mental health.
Can reading make you smarter? Fascinating data proves that reading can also make you smarter and help you think better, because it contributes to cognition and memory. This is according to research published in Neurology. Engaging your brain, stimulating your mind and boosting your thinking are all good for the long-term health of your cognition.
But reading with a book in your lap is a sedentary activity. Is that still good for your brain? While it's well-known that activity and exercise are good for your cognitive health because they enhance blood flow in your brain and cause the release of feel-good chemicals, but a study published in the Journals of Gerontology looked specifically at reading as a sedentary activity. It found that even though reading is generally something you do with little activity, it still has a positive effect on your thinking and also your memory.
Another study found that when you read stories, specifically, you enhance the connections in your brain. And these connections are essential to the quality of your thinking. Reading fiction resulted in more connections between brain regions, and these effects weren't just immediate, they also lingered for days, according to research published in Brain Connectivity.
Reading can help you sleep and improve mental health.
Can reading improve relationships? This answer may be a surprise, but another benefit of reading is that it can improve your relationships and ability to connect with people. Fully 50% of people say they struggle with loneliness, but reading can help here too.
Specifically, reading makes you more empathetic, according to research published in Science. The ability to put yourself in someone else's situation and imagine what they must be thinking or feeling is fundamental to great relationships, and to forging meaningful connections. Reading fiction places you in someone else's circumstances, and this gives you experience in understanding and empathizing with people in real life as well. This is called theory of mind, or social empathy, and it's a terrific skill for connection and community.
Reading also helps you with emotional intelligence. When you expand your experience through characters in a book, you can better understand your own feelings and their impact on others. This understanding can help you behave in ways that are constructive for relationships.
Can reading help you sleep? Yes, reading can also help you sleep. The NIH recommends seven to nine hours of sleep per night, but 43% of people say they only get six hours per night. In addition, 21% of people wake up in the morning and feel tired. All this is according to surveys conducted by MattressNextDay.
But this is another place that reading can help. In a study published in Trials, people who read before bed were compared with those who didn't. The participants who read reported better sleep.
Can reading make you happy? Reading helps here too. Depression and anxiety are at record levels today, but reading may be able to move the needle on making you happier, optimistic and upbeat.
In one study, when readers were compared with non-readers, those who read reported better moods and more positive emotions, according to research published in PLOS One. One of the primary characteristics of sadness is feeling like your world is closing in, or as if you're losing perspective. Reading is beneficial in expanding your horizons and getting you out of your own head.
But how can you find time to read? Even if you're convinced that reading is helpful, the demands of life can interfere with opportunities to read.
Here are five ways to find the time to read.
There are terrific benefits to grabbing a book or spending time with a great story. Reading makes you smarter and healthier. It can even help your mental health, your sleep, your happiness and your longevity. And you can find the time to read by setting goals, starting small multitasking and managing your habits. All of these can help you gain the benefits of reading
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