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Imagine traveling across the planet in an instant or even traveling back in time in the blink of an eye. All this and more is possible by picking up a book and reading, or nowadays, reading off the plenty of screens that are available to us in excess. Besides the mental time and space travel reading provides, there are some very impressive health benefits of reading as well.
Reading not only stimulates and broadens our imagination, but reading can also strengthen memory and help keep the mind sharp. There are studies that show regular reading can help prevent Alzheimer’s disease. Preventing cognitive decline is a huge benefit of reading. fifteen to minutes a day is the suggested amount of time to read to get the many benefits of this transformative mental and visual exercise.
There was a time when my reading slowed down to a halt, and I had to struggle with just getting a couple of minutes of reading in a day just to rebuild the habit of reading. Some readers probably can’t imagine reading for such small amounts of time. My reading is back up to 30 minutes a day to increase that number significantly once it’s a consistent daily activity in my life again.
Reading can reduce stress, improve empathy and make you a better communicator, which can improve your overall social interactions. The new things learned in consistent reading can also ultimately lead to improving your financial opportunities. As for increased empathy, it comes from being able to relate easier to others from understanding their emotions. Reducing stress and relieving depression are two other huge health benefits.
Overall, reading is on the decline, with social media taking up an average of two hours and 30 minutes a day. Reading or lack thereof for some can be a major factor in whether they have healthy cognitive abilities or not.
There is a whole debate about audiobooks versus physical books. Perhaps you’re listening to this article now and not reading it. Either way, stimulating the mind with new beneficial information, however you can fit it in, is better than nothing.
Words by Kaba Abdul-Fattaah
