As the famous quote states that “books are man’s best friend”. Have you ever imagined why it had been said and why you should read books everyday? Books are an immense source of information that imparts knowledge to mankind. It’s the human who started storing information in the form of pictures and drawings so that the coming generations can learn the art and techniques easily. Cave paintings are the oldest illustrations for passing information and human expression.
But as humans evolved with time they also started focusing on language as a means of communication both written and verbal. Written format of communication gave rise to books, the origin of books dating back to 23B.C. in Rome. In older times, chants, mantras, medicinal uses, etc were written on tree leaves which were used as paper. This way of storing information in written language started and it kept evolving and was later termed as Book. Reading books always provided pleasure and a sense of satisfaction to the reader, that’s why this thousands year old tradition is still in practice.
Talking about the present times, in the digital age reading books is declining as there are hundreds more ways to communicate information. When today in the digital age, listeners are becoming the new target audience. So at this point, the importance of books and reading culture do have some serious competition. Therefore asking the question “Why should you read books everyday?” becomes more relevant.
Let’s discuss Why you should read a book every day? Well there are multiple benefits of reading books every day which include:
Scientific Benefits of Reading Books
The main scientific benefits of reading books everyday are
- Reading involves a complex network of nerve circuits and signals in the brain. MRI scans show that people who have a habit of regular reading, their circuits and network of brain signals are better. Therefore strengthening the brain. The brain scan also shows that not only during reading but post reading also the brain connectivity increases especially in the somatosensory cortex. This part of the brain is associated with physical sensations like movement and pain.
- Well when you read a book everyday, you are developing and building your vocabulary. Various researches have shown that children who start reading on a regular basis at a young age have better and larger vocabulary. This is possible as the brain helps in memorizing the words and their pronunciation.
- Reading a book everyday helps in sound sleep – reading regularly everyday improves the sleep pattern of readers. Studies have shown that the quality of sleep far better in readers than in non-readers.
- Improves concentration and memory – as reading is a complex process because it involves many functions at times which includes interpretation of words and pictures, understanding their meaning followed by memorizing them for future references. Therefore when you read a book everyday then your concentration and memory improve over a period of time.
- Strengthens writing abilities.
- Helps in lowering blood pressure.
Psychological Benefits of Reading Books Everyday
- Helps in fighting depression – have you ever imagined if you read a book everyday then you can fight the deadly disease of depression. In depression, the person usually feels lost, not able to communicate fluently and his comprehension is also affected. But if you read a book everyday, especially fiction books, then it helps in captivating the reader’s thoughts and then the reader becomes engrossed in the lives of the characters which are larger than life thus helping the individual to fight depression.
- Maintains your cognitive health – The National Institute On Aging has listed reading as one of the main methods to stay mentally sharp with increasing age. When you read a book everyday then you are basically getting better in interpretation of emotions, feelings, and behavior.
- Helps in developing logical thinking (intelligence) and comprehension – in today’s era where social media is so overpowering because its access to entertainment is so quick which basically kills the essence of information. The information on social media is fabricated and false in many cases. Whereas the information which comes via reading books has proper research and data behind it. That’s the reason they help in the development of logical thinking and comprehension in a human being.
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Emotional Benefits of Reading Books
- Relieves stress – A study conducted in 2009 by Denise Rizzolo, studied the effects of yoga, humor and reading on the stress levels of students. To the surprise, the study result shows that 30 mins of reading is as effective as yoga and humor in reducing stress levels.
- Increases your empathizing power – when you read a book everyday then it helps an individual to adopt new perspectives. This is especially true with people who read fiction books regularly. Such people have a better understanding of feelings and beliefs. This further helps in developing social skills with other human beings around you.
- Increases emotional intelligence – emotional intelligence is made up of five components – self awareness, self regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills. When you read a book everyday then you surely increase your emotional intelligence as reading helps in providing information about the things around us or about the non existing things around us in the fiction genre. Both genres stimulate the human mind and help in activating emotions, thinking, memories, etc in various ways.
After learning the wonderful benefits of reading a book everyday, many of us will think that these benefits will be seen in a few days or a month or so. But it’s not a physical change like you go to a gym and in a few weeks you see a difference in your weight and size. In fact, when you read a book everyday, you are bringing in a dynamic change and the dynamic change which comes by reading regularly is visible in long-term effects. Like the development of the brain, improvement of writing and language skills, emotional and psychological development, better social and life skills development. All these benefits are reflected in various combinations in an individual over a long period of time.
