Since the month of September has two special reading-focused days, National Read a Book Day on the sixth and International Literacy Day on the eighth, let’s talk about the many and varied benefits of curling up with a good book. Have you been promising yourself to expand your reading material from emails, social media, and road signs to something more substantial? Either one of these special days (or both of them!) provide you with the perfect opportunity to kick back, grab your favorite beverage, and relax with a good story.
Reading is a superb way to de-stress after a hectic day. One study showed that reading may reduce stress by as much as 68%! Losing yourself in an engrossing story allows you an opportunity to escape from the worries and stresses of everyday life and enter the arena of the author’s imagination. No matter how much stress you face in your daily life, your worries will simply slip away when you lose yourself in a well-written novel. Before you know it, an hour or two will have passed as you were transported to another realm altogether.
Much has been written about the benefits of reading to children. Babies recognize voices in the womb, so it’s never too soon to start reading to your child. Once your baby arrives, reading to your newborn is a must. Although your baby won’t understand your words right away, hearing your voice stimulates an interest in sounds, helps develop good listening skills, and science shows that reading to a baby in the womb helps develop early language learning. Babies whose parents read to them several times a week show stronger literacy skills, score higher on intelligence tests, and land better jobs later in life.
Spending time reading to your children before they go to bed is a great way to bond with them and is much better for their brains than watching television, playing video games, or spending time in front of any type of screen before bed. Reading age-appropriate books that feature positive themes such as parental love will help reinforce good feelings and positive emotions, helping your child relax and drift off to sleep peacefully. If there are older siblings, get them involved in the process by first reading to them, then allowing them to choose one of their favorite books to read to their baby brother or sister in the womb. This will teach them to begin including their younger sibling in activities they enjoy even before the baby arrives and help set a book reading precedent that will carry over into their lives as they grow into adulthood.
Just as it’s never too soon to start reading, it’s also never too late to reap the health benefits of a good read. Studies show that reading not only increases our knowledge, staying mentally stimulated by keeping your brain active and engaged prevents it from losing power and can slow the progress of (or possibly even prevent) Alzheimer’s and dementia. Older adults who spend time reading show a slower decline in cognitive skills and tend to take part in more mentally stimulating activities over their lifetime. As with other muscles in the human body our brains require exercise to keep them strong and healthy, and reading provides a great source of mental exercise.
Reading helps expand our vocabularies, enhances our writing skills, develops stronger critical thinking skills, increases focus and concentration, and makes us better communicators. Books are a great source of inexpensive entertainment, as well. An engaging novel offers us a chance to entertain ourselves at our own pace, reading as quickly or slowly as we desire. A good book is a lot more cost effective than a night out at the movies, dinner, a play, or a concert, and is something we can enjoy more than once, making it a terrific value.
In addition to all these benefits, reading can actually make us better people. If the content of your reading includes self-improvement material or spiritual texts, for instance, the result can be improved mood, lower blood pressure, and a greater internal sense of peace and tranquility. The easy access we have to books offers us all amazing opportunities to read up on any topic we choose. Best of all, libraries have books on every subject imaginable, available every day of the week at no cost. Since libraries rotate their stock on a regular basis and constantly get new books through both purchases and donations, you’d be hard pressed to ever run out of reading materials.
Read quietly to yourself, read aloud to your children or parents, or read to your pets or plants (they love the sound of your voice, too!) Take some time this month to enjoy a good book, and reap the many mental, physical, and emotional benefits of reading in celebration of National Read a Book Day and International Literacy Day. But don’t keep all this good stuff to yourself; consider sharing a favorite book by setting up a book swap with your neighbors or a group of friends. A personalized book plate will help ensure your book is returned.
