Loving to Read
Unsurprisingly, there are health benefits that come from frequent reading. Benefits can include increased intelligence and decreased stress levels, to even lowered chances of developing mental diseases that often come with old age.
Reading and Health
Below are four ways reading can make you a healthier person.
1. Reading keeps your brain sharp.
According to a recent article on Real Simple, reading can create intelligence and boost your brainpower. While Real Simple focuses on reading physical books, many of the benefits cited in their article can be gained from reading electronic versions of books and magazines, as well. One example is how reading adds greatly to one’s vocabulary. Whether reading a physical book, magazine, or an electronic version, vocabulary can expand from reading in general. Ultimately, vocabulary expansion can lead to higher test scores on multiple types of intelligence tests, not just reading or vocabulary tests.
When it comes to brainpower, Real Simple writes that reading can do similar things for your brain that exercising can do for your body, such as improve memory. These two benefits sometimes slow the mental decline process as you get older, which HuffPost also reported. Furthermore, the more frequently you read, the more likely you are to see benefits, which makes using convenient electronic versions of your favorite pieces of writing even more helpful.
2. Reading could help you delay Alzheimer’s Disease.
Both Real Simple and HuffPost wrote that exercising your brain by participating in activities such as reading or puzzles could help delay Alzheimer’s disease, citing reports published in Neurology and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, respectively.
3. Reading can help you relac and even sleeep better.
Reading can help lower your stress levels, writes HuffPost, which could also lead to better sleep. However, it is helpful to start a routine of reading right before you hit the pillow to maximize your chances of sleeping better. By creating a calming habit of reading before bed, your body will be able to tell that it is time to wind down, allowing you to fall and stay asleep more easily. To make this habit even more effective, try reading something low-key such as your favorite magazine. By reading something less stress-inducing than, say, the latest murder-mystery novel, you are more likely to find yourself waking up in the morning from a peaceful sleep.
4. Reading can help you read into other people’s emotions.
NPR wrote an article detailing a study in the journal Science, which found that people who read more literary fiction, as opposed to non-fiction or popular fiction, could better determine the emotions of actors when looking at pictures of their eyes. Or, as NPR put it, these people could better “read” the minds of others, meaning decipher what they are thinking and feeling.
eMagazines Blog
Reading has many benefits beyond the common joy of reading a well-written story or article. Visit and read our blog regularly to learn more about how we use digital reading to make magazines even more convenient and accessible, allowing readers to reap these benefits anytime, anywhere.
Learn more about our services at www.emagazines.com.
Greenfieldboyce, N. (2013, October 4). Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2013/10/04/229190837/want-to-read-others-thoughts-try-reading-literary-fiction
Schocker, L. (2017, December 7). 6 Science-Backed Reasons To Go Read A Book Right Now. Retrieved from https://www.huffpost.com/entry/health-benefits-reading_n_4081258
Wise, A. (2019, September 5). 8 Science-Backed Reasons to Read a (Real) Book. Real Simple. Retrieved from https://www.realsimple.com/health/preventative-health/benefits-of-reading-real-books
