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Do you ever set a goal of reading more, or reading a certain number of books a year? Personally, while I don’t have a set number of books in mind, I’ve been trying to spend less time reading random stuff on social media and so on, and more time reading books. And we’ve been in a deep freeze lately, making it a nice time to curl up and read…but then again, I guess all weather is good reading weather!
I’ve always felt like reading books is good for my brain and my mental health…but to motivate myself, I decided to look into it a little more.
So if you’d like to know about many reasons why reading books is important, keep reading!
But first, you may be wondering…
Do audiobooks count as reading?
About every other week, people on social media argue about this. Here’s what I could find!
There have been several attempts to figure out if readers have better comprehension with audiobooks or print books, but this is a difficult issue to research. It’s not surprising that a couple of studies found that audiobooks were better for comprehension, while others found that print was better. I haven’t found a study that showed a big difference in reading comprehension either way.
Discover magazine published an article called “Audiobooks or Reading? To Our Brains, It Doesn’t Matter.” It covers how a study published in the Journal of Neuroscience found that the same parts of the brain were activated whether a person was reading a print book or listening to an audiobook. This surprised the leader of the study.
Learning to read is an important part of education; however, I was unable to find any convincing evidence that listening to audiobooks is inferior to reading print books among literate adults. I suspect the benefits of reading apply to books in any format.
Okay, let’s get to the reasons why reading books is important!
1. Reading Lowers Stress.
At the University of Sussex, researchers studied various means for reducing stress. Reading a book reduced stress, measured by heart rate and muscle tension, by 68%—more than going on a walk, listening to music, or anything else they studied.
It’s interesting to compare this to the effects of social media on stress. Many of us turn to mindless scrolling when we are bored or anxious, but multiple studies have shown that social media use increases stress.
2. Reading books increases your attention span.
In the past few years, I’ve heard more people complain that they are having a hard time focusing. Some writers are even finding themselves unable to write.
This may be because social media apps and online platforms are designed to decrease attention span. They want users to scan quickly and keep swiping to see more ads. They also want to keep people on their phones constantly—and it’s working. The average American checks their phone 205 times a day and spends over 4 hours a day on their phones.
One of the benefits of reading 15 minutes a day or more is that it builds up your brain’s ability to focus and sustain attention.
3. Reading fiction increases empathy.
Multiple studies have shown that after reading fiction, people show more understanding toward others. This makes sense, because when we read, we immerse ourselves deeply in characters other than ourselves and perspectives other than our own.
4. Reading books increases critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
Admittedly, the study here was done on kids, but I don’t know why it wouldn’t be the same for adults. Reading is like weight lifting for your brain. It builds new neural networks and makes you better at thinking.
5. Reading staves off age-related cognitive decline.
A fourteen-year-long study, published in Cambridge University Press, found that adults aged 64 and up who read books once or more a week were less likely to have cognitive decline. Other research studies showed the same results.
6. Reading books helps alleviate depression.
A 2022 study showed that reading novels—as well as recalling novel reading and talking about books with others—increased people’s sense of well-being and lowered their sense of “global distress,” or feelings of doom about the world and the future. Another study suggested that reading books improves self-confidence.
Some mental health professionals hypothesize that reading about characters triumphing over obstacles can make their patients feel more hopeful about overcoming their own difficulties.
7. Reading increases your knowledge and your vocabulary.
I know this is obvious, but it’s still one of the reasons why reading books is important. I love reading nonfiction books to learn more about the world, and often a novel also teaches me more about a subject I didn’t know a lot about.
We can sometimes increase our knowledge with online reading as well, but it’s important to remember how much misinformation we encounter. A huge-scale analysis of Twitter by three MIT researchers revealed that misinformation and false news are 10 to 20 times more likely to be shared than factual information. Also, the amount of misinformation online has increased exponentially due to AI.
Nonfiction books are often written by experts, edited by professionals, and fact-checked, so I trust them more.
And this last benefit of reading might be the most striking one:
8. Reading books helps you live longer!
According to a long-term study by the Yale School of Public Health, carefully controlled for other health and risk factors, people who read 3.5 hours or more a week live an average of 23 months longer than those who don’t. Book reading (rather than newspaper and magazine reading) was the most beneficial.
Have you experienced any benefits of reading daily or weekly? Are you building up a strong reading habit again? Are you one of those people who reads 50 or 100 books a year? I’d love to hear about it in the comments! Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a great week!
Very interesting! I love this post and will read more because of it!
I dedicated one her per day for reading (3-4 pm) and if I go longer, that’s wonderful. I’m a slow reader, despite my French literature degree, so I average only one book per month. As a writer, I think it’s essential to keep abreast of what’s highly touted.
I’ve followed you for a long time and appreciate your love for books.