The unexpected health benefits of reading
Not only does reading expand your mind but it also comes with many health benefits. So next time you lose hours (or days) of your life chomping through a novel, don’t feel so bad because you’re doing yourself the following favours.
It reduces stress
According to a 2009 study from the University of Sussex, reading for just six minutes can reduce stress levels by up to 68 per cent. Researchers found that silently reading to yourself slows down heart rate and eases muscle tension, and it achieves this more effectively than other relaxing activities such as listening to music or having a cuppa.
It refines brain function
A 2014 study published in Brain Connectivity found reading fiction improves reader’s ability to flex the imagination and “puts the reader in the body of the protagonist”, increasing a person’s emotional intelligence and ability to be compassionate.
It helps your memory
In her landmark paper "What Reading Does For The Mind", psychologist Dr. Anne Cunningham concluded, “reading is a very rich and complex and cognitive act.” She found the benefits of reading become reciprocal – reading helps your brain retain information over time (as every time you read, you create a new memory), which in turns makes you read better, which in turn make you sharper and smarter.
It enhances mental agility in old age
The 2013 study from the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago measured memory and thinking in over 200 participants aged 55 and over, annually for six years until their deaths. The participants answered the same questions about whether they read books, wrote letters and took part in other mentally stimulating activities.
The researchers found that those who kept their brain busy had a rate of cognitive decline estimated at 15 per cent slower than those who did not.
“Based on this, we shouldn't underestimate the effects of everyday activities, such as reading and writing, on our children, ourselves and our parents or grandparents,” says study author Robert. S. Wilson, Ph.D.
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