CC Book Club Blog by Antonio Arch
Reading is one of the most important and beneficial cognitive activities you can do for your mind, body, and soul. It has been shown to have a wide range of mental health benefits, is a great way to relax and escape from stress and improve many areas of your daily life life.
Benefits include:
· Improved cognitive function: Reading requires and strengthens several cognitive skills like attention, memory, and comprehension. The more you read, the better these skills become. This can lead to improved overall cognitive function, which can help you in school, work, creative ideation, and other areas of your work and life.
· Increased Vocabulary: As you read, you are exposed to new words and phrases. This can help to expand vocabulary, potentially helping to make you a more effective communicator.
· Enhanced Creativity: Reading can help to stimulate your imagination and creativity. When you read a story, you are transported to another world through narrative, and forced to think about your own situations in new ways, helping you to come up with new ideas and solutions to problems.
· Improved Memory: Reading helps to strengthen your memory capacities, and requires you to remember characters, plot, and settings.
· Reduced Stress: Books can be a great way to relax and de-stress. When you read, you tend to focus on a story, forget about your worries, and temporarily forget stressors. This can help to lower blood pressure, heart rate, and cortisol levels.
· Increased Empathy: Reading fiction can help you to develop empathy for others. When you read about the experiences of other people, you are able to see the world from their perspective, fostering understanding and compassion towards characters, groups, nationalities and identities.
· Improved Sleep: Reading before bed can help you to fall asleep more easily and get a better night’s rest.
· Increased Lifespan: Studies have shown that people who read regularly are more likely to live longer than those who don’t.
Not a regular reader? There are a few things you can do to start reading more. First, find books that you’re interested in, not what you think you should read or choose because they are popular right now (unless of course you’re a student, in which case you should probably follow the prescribed reading list or syllabus). Set aside some time each day to read. Even if it’s just for fifteen minutes, regular reading can make a big difference. Finally, don’t be afraid to try new things. Additionally:
· Find a comfortable place to read. This could be in bed, a couch, a shady spot outdoors, or anyplace comfortable, quiet, and well lit.
· Set a goal for yourself. How many pages do you want to read each day, or per month?
· Find a reading buddy. This can help you stay motivated and on track.
· Make reading a part of daily life. Schedule some time each day to escape into a book. This can include during your daily commute (unless of course you’re driving, in which case we recommend an audiobook).
· If you need help, guidance and support choosing books, discussing those choices, or even more community help on your reading journey, consider joining a book club like ours!