Reading a book before bed helps reduce anxiety and stress levels, which have been found to be some of the reasons behind insomnia. On top of this, reading increases the levels of serotonin and melatonin, which could help patients with insomnia get in the right mood to fall asleep.
When you read, your brains release a chemical called dopamine. This dopamine rush is what gives you that feeling of pleasure when you do something like eat good food or achieve a certain goal.
Reading might feel boring or like a chore to some people, but Drummond calls it her “wellness ritual” because it improves her mood. She is not wrong – a host of studies in recent years have found that reading could actually make you happier.
Studies have found that reading for pleasure enhances empathy, understanding of the self, and the ability to understand one's own and others' identities.
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 30 minutes a day strengthens your brain.
When brain scans are taken after consistent reading for only 10 days, brain connectivity increases. This was especially true in the somatosensory cortex, the part of the brain that senses movement. The brain was more active and stronger due to the way reading affects it.
You will give your brain a workout
Like building muscle memory when you run, reading every day can train your mind to activate and improve your cognitive functions, the study's authors explained.
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.
A bibliophile or bookworm is an individual who loves and frequently reads and/or collects books.
Reading is really like taking your brain to the gym. It works out all of those important muscles that are needed to help you be at your best mentally. Keeping your mind active with reading makes your brain stronger. Having to follow words and pay attention helps our memory skills improve and get better over time.
A book hangover is condition in which attachment to a book or series that has ended causes the reader traumatic emotional distress. It usually lasts for one to two weeks, or until a new book of higher-than-average quality enters the reader's life.
“The study found that 30 minutes of reading lowered blood pressure, heart rate, and feelings of psychological distress just as effectively as yoga and humour did,” says Hansa. One of the key benefits of reading, says Hansa, is that it can improve our mental health.
Regular exercise is known to increase serotonin levels. Thirty minutes of aerobic exercise five times a week plus two strength-training sessions per week can improve mood disorders and heart health.
When it comes to the addiction to books, the scientific term for the condition is bibliomania. It is defined as an obsessive-compulsive disorder that manifests itself as an excessive need to collect or even hoard books.
You can call a book lover a bibliophile. If you find it impossible to leave a book store without buying at least one book, you might be a bibliophile. A bibliophile usually has a huge collection of books and loves nothing more than browsing in a used book shop or a library.
“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 is proven to reduce stress and increase relaxation.
Reading books, particularly fiction, fully engages the mind and imagination. Any activity that possesses meditative qualities in which the brain is fully focused on a single task is proven to reduce stress and enhance relaxation.
When you read a book, you actively engage your mind and enter into new state of consciousness. This mental engrossment helps lead your mind into a state relaxation, lifting the worries and stressors deeply embedded into your body's muscles.
However exaggerated (or ridiculous) this stereotype is, reading is indeed associated with eye strain and comes at the expense of exercise and other physical activities. Frequently related are poor diets and digestive problems, an unwelcome weight gain or loss, and generalized exhaustion.
Even though you will not lose your eyesight or damage it in any way through doing too much reading, you can cause some eye strain if your reading sessions run for too long. The symptoms are quite easy to identify: your eyes may be itchy, watering, or you might even get blurry vision.
As reading skills improve with intensive instruction, brain activity increases in key areas in the left side of the brain. Intensive reading instruction also leads to changes in the right side of the brain. The changes in the right side of the brain may help make up for weaknesses on the left.