It can reduce stress. “Reading can even relax your body by lowering your heart rate and easing the tension in your muscles. A 2009 study at the University of Sussex found that reading can reduce stress by up to 68%.”
Reading fiction can help you feel more connected and can help people who may be dealing with depression or anxiety. It allows your imagination to become more engaged and you connect emotionally to characters and reflect your own feelings, problems and desires as you read.
Mental Health Benefits of Reading
Studies have shown that reading as little as 6 minutes per day can improve your quality of sleep, reduce stress, and sharpen mental acuity. Reading strengthens the neural circuits and pathways of our brain while lowering heart rate and blood pressure.
Researchers have reported that shared reading experiences helped alleviate depressive symptoms for surgery patients, decreased cognitive and emotional symptoms in dementia patients, and improved cognitive and psychological functioning in patients with psychosis.
Solving for Reading
And, as the parents testified, learning to read can quell some of the most demoralizing and frustrating academic, social, and emotional effects of ADD, ADHD, and specific learning disorders.
However, numerous studies have defined that 15-30 minutes is a minimum interval we should dedicate to reading each day. Neuroscientists agree that even simple lifestyle changes, like daily 15 minutes with a nose in a book, will support your brain health for a lifetime.
Researchers found that reading, recalling, and even discussing fiction books can indeed make us happier. Reading can change our mood for the better, improve mental health, reduce stress, and even expand our life span.
It can reduce stress.
A 2009 study at the University of Sussex found that reading can reduce stress by up to 68%.”
Closely linked to reducing stress levels when you read is the ability to escape from the real world. I did this a lot as a child as a coping mechanism to dealing with the emotional hurt I experienced from my family. I often become immersed in that world and helped me to forget my worries.
Reading Improves Brain Function
Not surprisingly, daily readers also gain more enjoyment from it than those that read less often. It can even improve memory and critical thinking skills. And activities like reading have been linked to a lower risk of Alzheimer's disease.
While the act of reading itself doesn't use a lot of physical energy, your brain is actually working hard to process the information you're taking in. All that mental stimulation can be exhausting, and it's one of the main reasons why reading makes us sleepy.
“Reading a book helps you escape from the day to day life. When you read a good book, you can forget about your problems and your loneliness – you're in a completely different world.” Yet, joining a book club isn't the only way to alleviate loneliness, simply reading on your own can help you feel less lonely too.
Reading consistently strengthens connections in the brain, improves memory and concentration, and may even help you live longer. Reading can also reduce stress levels and prevent age-related cognitive decline. To read more, set aside time every day to pick up a book, whether it's during your commute or before bed.
Reading is good for you because it improves your focus, memory, empathy, and communication skills. It can reduce stress, improve your mental health, and help you live longer. Reading also allows you to learn new things to help you succeed in your work and relationships.
Reading Improves Literacy
The more you read, the more your vocabulary grows, along with your ability to effectively communicate. Additionally, reading improves writing skills by helping the reader understand and learn different writing styles.
Reading has been shown to put our brains into a pleasurable trance-like state, similar to meditation, and it brings the same health benefits of deep relaxation and inner calm. Regular readers sleep better, have lower stress levels, higher self-esteem, and lower rates of depression than non-readers.
It helps us relate to other people and encourages us to be kind and considerate of other people's feelings. As it turns out, reading can actually help improve empathy. When people read stories about other people's lives, it helps them develop the skills to understand the world through another person's perspective.
Reading before bed is one of a handful of sleep hygiene strategies that can help foster a good night's rest. Taking time to read in the minutes and hours leading up to bedtime can help reduce stress and allow your mind and body to relax.
How many hours a day does Elon Musk read? Before Elon Musk became the owner of Tesla, he read for 10 hours a day. It helped him build confidence, empathy, decision-making, and other skills that are crucial to being a business owner.
Hence, the evening or night time is a more effective time for them to read and study. Studying at this time also helps to improve your concentration and creativity as there are fewer distractions, and with everyone in bed, there is definitely peace and quiet.
Recommended Reading Time per Day
One should spend between 1 to 1.5 hours reading every day. This time should be spent in a single sitting for maximum effect as glancing at a book every now and then isn't good for focused learning.