Reading Habits and Brain Benefits

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Reading Habits and Brain

How reading for six minutes can be enough to reduce stress levels and increases your brain power?

Studies have shown that reading stimulates the brain and researchers have found that it can reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s and dementia, by keeping your mind engaged.

Reading, in the recent years, has lost its appeal. People prefer mobiles and gadgets than reading an actual book. There is a debate between paper books and e-readers. Some talk about the sentimental versus the practical.  However, focusing can be challenging, and gadgets tend to reduce concentration. A book, on the other hand, does the opposite and helps you increase your focus.

Medical News Today published in the journal Social Science and Medicine claimed reading books could increase lifespan. Researchers are finding that reading may offer real benefits for health and well-being.

1. Best Way To Relax  

Psychologists believe this is because the human mind has to concentrate on reading and the distraction of being taken into a literary world eases the tensions in muscles and the heart. The research was carried out on a group of volunteers by consultancy Mindlab International at the University of Sussex.

2. It Builds Up Cognitive Reserve 

According to some studies, reading could help slow down or even prevent cognitive decline, and it may also help stave off more severe forms of cognitive impairment, such as Alzheimer’s disease.

“Reading the newspaper, writing letters, visiting a library, attending a play or playing games, such as chess or checkers, are all simple activities that can contribute to a healthier brain,” Dr Arfanakis said according to Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, IL news release.

3. Reading Increases the Quality of Sleep 

Smartphones have become our regular bedtime friend. According to research, it could cause more sleep disturbance. A study published in the journal Social Science & Medicine found that using a smartphone just before bedtime is linked to shorter sleep duration and poorer sleep quality. The light emitted from the devices reduces production of melatonin in the brain - a hormone that tells us when to sleep. National Institute on Aging highly recommends reading a book before sleeping. It promotes better sleep by easing the transition between wakefulness and drowsiness.

4. It Improves Appreciation 

According to the research article in Science magazine, reading a book, especially that of literary value, helps us improve our ability to understand other people’s feelings and the reasons for their reaction, decision and courses of action under certain circumstances. It enables us to enhance our human affairs in real life by looking at the events from different angles, and it is precious in our work and private life.

We hope you’ll be inspired to turn the page. Because, as science reminds us, it pays to increase your word power—today, tomorrow, and for the rest of your life.  

If you are still not convinced, we'll leave you with a quote from the American educator Charles William Eliot:

“Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counsellors, and the most patient of teachers.”

With much appreciation

Luci