5 Benefits of Reading

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1. It will exercise your brain!

When picking up your next read, you are diving into a whole new world. A new setting, plot, and characters, so our brain has to remember all the details while reading the story. This helps exercise your brain because you always think about how a plot twist correlates with the events leading up to it or notice the character development points.

2. Reading will improve your concentration and focus!

Everyone can agree that you will not be able to enjoy a book without focusing entirely. We must concentrate on each sentence we read and follow the pages we turn. Over the years, our attention spans have lessened because of video games and Netflix. Our brain gets so wrapped up in technology that we don’t even realise it’s affecting our concentration. With reading, it is the total opposite. Reading is one of the few hobbies that demand your full attention, thus improving concentration and focus.

3. It can improve your sleeping pattern.

If you add reading a couple of pages, or chapters, into your nightly routine, it can tell your brain that it is time for rest. The blue light from our phones and televisions can harm our eyesight and damage our sleeping patterns. That being the case, if we set our phones aside at night and pick up a book instead, it is signalling our brain that it is now time to relax. In addition, reading also helps the mind relax. Reading before you close your eyes for the night will calm the mind, evaporate your anxiety and improve your night of sleep.

4. Reading is motivational

When we read a book, we can become inspired by the characters in the story, how they overcome the obstacles in their way or possible challenges that may pop up. It may even push us to act in the same way. Whether it is a novel about romance or a self-help book, the right one can motivate and inspire you.

5. Reading teaches us empathy.

Reading allows us to enter a world that isn’t our own and will allow us to experience a reality different from ours. We are often seeing through the storyteller's or the protagonist's eyes, which often is to educate us on how to relate to others. Reading will promote empathy in a reader, exposing us to ideas and stories beyond what we can even imagine.