The Benefits of Reading
Carrie Warts
October 2020
We have all heard about the benefits of reading. We have even discovered it ourselves by our own reading habits – or thanks to the HP books.
I particularly remember my mother buying books every weekend when she would take my sister and me to the park, which coincidentally – yeah, right – was next to a bookstore.
Every weekend she would spend so much money on books and, believe it or not, she would read all of them in a week or two – max.
One day when I was about 8 years old, I decided to ask her why she was buying book after book when she could buy herself clothes or more candy or even spend it on herself. She replied with something that will stay with me forever: “You know how you have a lot of aunts and uncles that are my brothers and sisters, right?" She has 8 siblings and she is the third.
"When we were kids, my mom and dad couldn’t support having so many kids, so we would share everything. I would use my older sister's clothes once they didn’t fit her or my other sister anymore. I would use her shoes, her backpack, and her books from school that were mostly second-hand and in poor shape."
"My father was a history school teacher and he would always have plenty of books at home that no one would read because my siblings thought they were boring. So, I would take a book without my father knowing and read it to one of my brothers, night after night. Reading took me to more places than I’ve ever been to. It gave me the motivation to study a career, none of my siblings studied after school, and made me realize that I never needed anything material to make me happy, only books. And now that I have a career, a job, and a beautiful family, I get to decide to use my money in the wisest way I know: buying books in the hope that you and your sister can feel what I felt back then, which was joy for reading, expanding my knowledge and vocabulary, traveling through my imagination, which sadly the TV doesn’t give you.”
My mother never used any of the medical or scientific facts to lure me into reading, but I knew there had to be some. She is the smartest person I know so I decided to investigate the benefits of reading and here are some for you to know – though you probably already know them:
Now all of these are not only reading-related. As long as you keep your brain working, all of this can happen. For examples, with a Sudoku puzzle you get a higher concentration ability and better analysis. Letter puzzles in general help your vocabulary, memory, and increases your productivity. Jigsaw puzzles give you a great mental workout. It improves your attention to detail and you develop better collaboration and teamwork when you do it with someone else.
So, whatever you do, keep your brain working every day, because when the time comes for us to meet, I want us to talk, play games, and share memories of life and our time here at HOL.
We have all heard about the benefits of reading. We have even discovered it ourselves by our own reading habits – or thanks to the HP books.
I particularly remember my mother buying books every weekend when she would take my sister and me to the park, which coincidentally – yeah, right – was next to a bookstore.
Every weekend she would spend so much money on books and, believe it or not, she would read all of them in a week or two – max.
One day when I was about 8 years old, I decided to ask her why she was buying book after book when she could buy herself clothes or more candy or even spend it on herself. She replied with something that will stay with me forever: “You know how you have a lot of aunts and uncles that are my brothers and sisters, right?" She has 8 siblings and she is the third.
"When we were kids, my mom and dad couldn’t support having so many kids, so we would share everything. I would use my older sister's clothes once they didn’t fit her or my other sister anymore. I would use her shoes, her backpack, and her books from school that were mostly second-hand and in poor shape."
"My father was a history school teacher and he would always have plenty of books at home that no one would read because my siblings thought they were boring. So, I would take a book without my father knowing and read it to one of my brothers, night after night. Reading took me to more places than I’ve ever been to. It gave me the motivation to study a career, none of my siblings studied after school, and made me realize that I never needed anything material to make me happy, only books. And now that I have a career, a job, and a beautiful family, I get to decide to use my money in the wisest way I know: buying books in the hope that you and your sister can feel what I felt back then, which was joy for reading, expanding my knowledge and vocabulary, traveling through my imagination, which sadly the TV doesn’t give you.”
My mother never used any of the medical or scientific facts to lure me into reading, but I knew there had to be some. She is the smartest person I know so I decided to investigate the benefits of reading and here are some for you to know – though you probably already know them:
- It increases your vocabulary. More than once you will encounter new words and will not know what they mean. Look them up! And try to use those new words on a daily basis. It will keep your brain exercised.
- It can help you learn a whole new language. Just like how we start learning how to read when we are kids, children’s books are the best when we try to learn a new language. It’s even easier when it’s a book you know in your own language.
- It reduces stress. Who knew!? 30 minutes of reading can lower your blood pressure, heart rate, and give you an amazing night’s rest.
- It helps prevent cognitive diseases. Our memories are all we have left in most cases when we get older. They are filled with stories, history, wisdom, interesting facts, and funny memories that we will enjoy telling our grandkids or anyone who will be with us. Let’s share all of that by getting to that age with a great memory and a clear brain.
- Following the previous one, reading can help you live longer. Giving that your brain is still working amazingly, your lifespan can be way longer than you think.
- Your imagination increases massively. Remember some weird dream you had. The setting, the people there. No matter how odd that was, it was all part of your vast imagination and what better way to keep expanding it than by reading more and more books and maybe writing one yourself!
Now all of these are not only reading-related. As long as you keep your brain working, all of this can happen. For examples, with a Sudoku puzzle you get a higher concentration ability and better analysis. Letter puzzles in general help your vocabulary, memory, and increases your productivity. Jigsaw puzzles give you a great mental workout. It improves your attention to detail and you develop better collaboration and teamwork when you do it with someone else.
So, whatever you do, keep your brain working every day, because when the time comes for us to meet, I want us to talk, play games, and share memories of life and our time here at HOL.