Reading a Gateway to Many Lives: Benefits of Reading

There is no Frigate like a Book

To take us Lands away

Nor any Coursers like a Page

Of prancing Poetry –

This Traverse may the poorest take

Without oppress of Toll –

How frugal is the Chariot

That bears the Human Soul –

—Emily Dickinson

For a little over 20 years of my life, reading wasn’t something to adore, and that’s probably because of the school system throwing books at me to read for an assignment I wasn’t interested in reading. During those early years, I encountered books that resonated with me. From what I could remember, I enjoyed history class, where historical facts and figures clicked with me. However, I struggled to understand works of fiction and was then asked to write an essay about them.

I assumed for a time that reading wasn’t for me, especially in the format of books. Why bother when video games, movies, TV shows, and documentaries are far more visually stimulating? In my college years, I used to go to a bookstore called Borders, which had a café inside it. When I had a brief break from my school work, I would scan book covers to see if anything was a fascinating look that offered a hint of intrigue.

I remember it like yesterday; I bought two books, Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis and Lord of the Flies by William Golding in Borders. Despite their wear and tear, these copies represented the beginning of something incredible I still appreciate: the far-reaching benefits of reading that I couldn’t possibly comprehend before. There are benefits to reading and specific benefits to reading different literature, like nonfiction, fiction, and poetry, for my personal development.

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies . . . The man who never reads lives only one.” —George R. R. Martin

Upon reflection, besides reading fiction, I realize that all of those motion pictures, story-driven video games, and television programs are visual interpretations: dialogue, subtext, body language, and expressions in ongoing scenes, moments of conflict and challenge, and recreation where you watch the protagonist develop or play one as the protagonist in a video game.

Instead of visualizing yourself in fiction books, these visual media, like playing video games, provide passive visualizations, which you must follow through and pick up on in terms of oral and body language, setting, mythos, and cultural and societal nuances in a character’s world. In a different post, I’ll review what these other visual mediums mean to me. In my quest for writing and understanding the art of living, I seek inspiration from a wide range of reading genres, not just from reading books.

“Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.” —Harper Lee

Benefits of Reading

It comes as no surprise when you run a search online for “benefits of reading,” you will find many websites outlining the varied benefits, and I won’t go to length to repeat all of them; instead, I’ll cover the ones I’ve found to be the most relevant for my experience in the past decade, and one of the magics I discovered is the more I read my reading ability improves with each session.

Knowledge improvement

There’s a saying that goes, “knowledge is power.” Well, it’s valid to a certain extent. For instance, you have knowledge about farming crops. Now put that knowledge to work by identifying a fertile area, clearing it of trees and rocks, plowing the ground to remove any roots and rocks, and then planting the seeds.

Of course, there is more to it, but the application of knowledge lies in the comprehension and technique born from it. You can read and highlight as much as you want, but the thinking, the acting, the engagement with your senses and cognition, and, let’s not forget, your emotions play a role. In the process where you become a more wholesome person who uses knowledge wisely in everyday life. Self-help books can carry you so far, but their application of it is where the magic lies.

“Reading is essential for those who seek to rise above the ordinary.” —Jim Rohn

Mental Stimulation For Your Brain

Your brain needs mental exercise to remain strong and healthy. One excellent way to give your brain mental stimulation is to read. When you read, your brain processes the information and interprets the text. This keeps your brain active, helps you think more clearly, and stave off mental health issues. Additionally, reading can help to sharpen your focus and memory. So pick up a book if you’re looking for a way to exercise your brain and minimize cognitive decline!

Lower Stress

Health benefits include getting away from technology by taking a trail hike, meditating with my legs crossed, and counting my breaths. Reading a book also lowers blood pressure, a significant health benefit. I don’t mean an online article or social media message, which separates me from the myriad of distractions that want to steal my attention. As I write this, I am inclined to switch a tab to YouTube, Amazon, and even email. Reading is a one-to-one interaction between the reader and the written word.

It’s an engagement that requires the reader to slow down, cut off from all other distractions, and soak in the information that must be explored, analyzed, digested, entertained, and visualized in their mind. It must be intentional, and if you haven’t already, schedule reading time before bedtime. After a few days, you will find that the ease of softening your thoughts will transform into sleepiness.

Enhance Vocabulary

I run a daily vocabulary quiz to increase my pompous status (I jest). It’s more to save time when explaining a concept; otherwise, I’d have to think about it for a while to find the right words or keep talking or writing to express an idea. As a result, you end up using excessive language when the proper adjective, adverb, verb, or noun would have defined the essence of your message. Remember that, despite your best efforts, you risk alienating other people.

For example, in the literary fiction of H. P. Lovecraft’s stories, where I was introduced to many new words, I struggled to follow along and felt robbed of enjoying his stories because I lacked the vocabulary. The reality is when you expand your vocabulary as a side effect of being a prolific reader, you’ll find yourself reading with ease through a book’s rich language. However, this can alienate you from people who do not share your reading comprehension. Don’t be ashamed to take pride in it.

Improves Focus

Reading is intentional—when reading a novel, keep track of characters, plot, and subtext, visualize the setting and scenes, or draw context. Even a poem with its language usage, repetition of sounds, meaning imagery, and more. This cognitive grappling gun must pull from the filing cabinet of memory and arrange the puzzle in such a way as to extract the theme, the message, and the meaning that the speaker or narrator intends to convey. With books, unlike video games and movies, you don’t have any visual stimuli to support you. Thus, you can appreciate the insight you will gain and, as a side effect, see the beauty all around you in its stillness by giving your attention to the content.

Entertainment

Unless you are a voracious reader — reading can feel intimidating when other forms of entertainment are within your purview. Reading is a distinct form of entertainment that needs to be practiced. You can binge-watch a TV series and be flushed with the dopamine hits that carry you one into the next without stopping. The gains in strength, cardiovascular health, and energy levels with appropriate rest and a balanced diet become apparent in day-to-day activities after a strenuous workout. In this way, reading can feel like an exercise. The results show up later in subtle ways: rehearsing a scene in a dream inspired by reading a book that guides action in real life.

“I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.” —Groucho Marx

When you read, you inadvertently anticipate the following chapter and attempt to foretell the upcoming plot or scene, embarking on a journey where the characters’ identities are further developed with each page turned. This is what you do in your dreams to assist in directing some action in reality. Therefore, this can only result from your close relationship with the book.

Social life

One of the benefits of reading is that it can help improve your social life. When you read, you learn new information and gain new perspectives. This can make you more interesting to others and help you better understand their points of view. Reading can also help you develop empathy and compassion, which are important skills for maintaining healthy relationships. Additionally, reading can give you something in common with others, which can be an icebreaker or conversation starter. So if you want to improve your social life, pick up a book!

“Reading brings us unknown friends” —Honoré de Balzac

Better writing skills

Reading has many advantages that can help you become a better writer. Reading exposes you to various writing genres and sentence and idea construction techniques. You can learn new methods for producing engaging and powerful writing, which can help you develop your own style. Reading also enables you to build your grammar and vocabulary, which are crucial for producing clear and succinct writing. You can significantly improve your writing abilities and write better overall by reading frequently.

The Gist

There are countless benefits of reading. Regular reading improves your memory and concentration, reduces stress, develops your analytical and critical thinking skills, and expands your knowledge and vocabulary. Reading is also a great way to relax and unwind.

Despite the so many benefits of reading, many people still need to make time for it. If you’re one of those people, set aside at least 30 minutes daily to read. You can start with a short article or story and work up to longer books. Soon you’ll be reaping the rewards of this healthy habit!

• As the saying goes, “knowledge is power,” only insofar as it leads to action. With reading, one can expand one’s knowledge domain.
• You can find a ton of research on the benefits of reading, including how it can lower readers’ stress levels. Instead of taking my word for it, why don’t you put your phone on silent and out of sight for a week while you read to see how much less stress it has caused you to feel?
• Besides sounding more sophisticated with a more extensive vocabulary, reading not only aids in expanding your toolkit of language but also makes the reading experience enjoyable when you stumble upon an author who invites their rich language—H. P. Lovecraft
• Reading or listening to an audiobook can help you focus better than using a smartphone or computer, where numerous sources compete for your attention, such as social media, web searches, and YouTube.
• Reading frequently will help you write better and significantly improve your writing skills.
• No doubt, before the advent of the internet, smartphones, social media, TVs, and video games, reading was a common form of entertainment. However, it has taken a backseat compared to the varied entertainment platforms. There is still unique magic about reading a book that should remain sacred in one’s joy.

In my next post, I’ll convey the benefits I discovered from reading nonfiction.