10 Benefits of Reading: Why You Should Read Every Day by Lana Winter-Hébert.
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
This goes with the above topic: 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 are also many sources online where you can download free e-books, so go hunting for something new to read!
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.
Källa
------
Läs mer böcker
Man blir faktiskt smartare av att läsa böcker. Man använder hjärnan på ett annat sätt än när man till exempel kollar på tv eller när man sitter med sin mobiltelefon. Desto mer man använder sin hjärna ju smartare blir man. Hjärnan plockar upp ord som ger dig ett större och tryggare ordförråd, dessutom får man en djupare förståelse för kontext och olika ords betydelse. Läsning förbättrar också ditt fokuserande och din koncentrationsförmåga och ger dig en möjlighet till att vara kreativ. Desto mer kunskap och information man samlar på sig desto lättare är det att vara kreativ och tänka på olika sätt.
Genom att läsa kan man få glimtar av andra kulturer , andra länder, människor med en annan bakgrund än den man själv har. Du samlar kunskap som du annars inte fått, du blir mer allmänbildad vilket ofta leder till att du blir mer självsäker. Precis som att en resa ger dig erfarenheter ger böcker dig kunskap.
Minnet blir bättre av läsning, du stannar på kapitel två – fortsätter att läsa tre dagar senare och försöker minnas det sista du läste i boken.
Läser du mycket kan du bli grym på ämnet, det ger en självförtroende boost att känna att “jag vet riktigt mycket om psykologi” – och allt har du läst dig till. Jag som älskar grammatik har lärt mig det mesta genom att läsa om den. Jag skulle kalla mig själv en grammatikfantast.
Du kan spara pengar genom att läsa om hur du kan bygga saker själv, pyssla och återbruka saker du redan har hemma.
Du slipper vara utrråkad, det är inte mycket som slår en spännande bok!
Du kan förbättra din karriär, din matlagningskunskap, lära dig sticka och andra saker som kan ljusa upp din vardag.
I dagens digitala värld som kryllar av mobiler, tv-apparater och ipads och bärbara datorer – det kan vara avkopplande att lämna det och läsa en stund. Inte minst när det är dags att sova. Det har gjort undersökningar som visar att man sover bättre om man läser innan man ska sova jämför med om man kolla mobilen innan man slumrar.
Källa
----------------