Wikilatief - Books are a window to the world, and reading books is a way to open that window so that we can find out more about the world that we didn't know before. These activities can be carried out by anyone, children, adolescents, adults, and people who are elderly.
Books are a source of various information that can open our horizons about various things such as science, economics, social, culture, politics, and other aspects of life. In addition, by reading, it can help change the future, and can increase our intelligence and thinking.
Without us knowing it, the benefits of reading books can provide a lot of inspirations for us. But unfortunately the activity of reading books lately has been ignored by various groups because they are busy, as well as because of the existence of more practical media for obtaining information such as television, radio, and internet media.
Actually, reading is an investment for one's self-development. This is because reading has a myriad of benefits. Apart from being in the form of information, it turns out that research by experts have found that reading the human brain and body will benefit directly.
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That said, reading doesn't just make oneself grow. But on a broader scale, it also supports national development. Well, here are some of the benefits of reading books that are not widely known:
1. Keeps Brain Work Active
Making reading books a hobby for children to adulthood has a function to maintain brain health until later in life. This is because reading is a brain training activity that can make the brain more efficient at structural changes.
Changes in the active structure of the brain will make the brain function better, regardless of other external or internal factors.
2. Improve Memory
Reading can develop the ability to imagine, language improvement and associative training which is totally connected to certain neural circuits. This is where reading can improve memory work or the memory system in the brain.
By reading books can contribute to improve the quality of our brains in the process of remembering, various kinds of things that we have read. For example, characters, backgrounds, ambitions, history, as well as various elements or plots of each storyline.
Each memory can help to forge brain pathways and strengthen them. Besides that, reading activities can stabilize one's mood.
By reading books can help exercise the brain optimally than just watching television or listening to the radio.
Whatever your reading material - including the instruction manual for installing a device - can provide optimal reading benefits.
A research president of Haskins Laboratories named Ken Pugh, PhD, said that the habit of reading books can spur the brain to think and concentrate.
3. Avoid Alzheimer's
If reading can improve memory skills, then these benefits will go hand in hand with preventing Alzheimer's and also dementia.
This is because reading can make the brain think more often so that it can keep the brain away from all kinds of diseases related to the brain.
In addition, according to Science research in 2001, reading books are similar to doing physical activity that maintains heart pressure, strengthens bones and muscles, and prevents disease.
4. Increased Power of Concentration and Focus
The benefit of reading the next book is to train the ability to concentrate and focus. When concentration and focus increase, a person can sharpen brain power, be able to analyze more easily to the ability to do multitasking activities.
5. Reduce Stress
One British study also found that reading can reduce a person's stress levels more than 50%. The way to do this is to get some participants to do an activity that stimulates anxiety for a few minutes.
After that, the participants were divided to do other activities such as playing games, listening to music and also reading.
It turned out those participants who did reading activities experienced a more significant reduction in stress than the other two activities.
By doing reading activities that can be done for a few minutes can help suppress the development of stress hormones such as the hormone cortisol. Reading can relax the mind so that it can help reduce stress levels.
Apart from relaxation, reading books can bring great inner peace and serenity. Reading can lower blood pressure and has been shown to help people with certain mood disorders and minor mental illnesses.
This is the benefit of reading a book that many people ignore, many people think that reading a book actually keeps the brain working and causes stress, even though the benefit of reading a book is to reduce stress.
6. Cultivate Empathy
Empathy is a person's ability to be sympathetic, put a position from the perspective of others, feel the emotional state of others and try to solve problems. Meanwhile, the ability to empathize can actually be sharpened by reading.
According to research conducted by New York University, reading books can improve our ability to understand better other people's feelings. So that it can improve the quality of better relationships with the people around us.
There are several writings of writers that take the theme of the difficult life of a character. By reading a lot of books of this type, gradually one's empathy ability will become sharper. Classical literature has a greater degree of empathy than modern literature.
7. Healthier Sleep Patterns
For some people who suffer from insomnia, making it a habit to read a book before bed can be used as a bedtime activity. This habit can make the brain send an alarm or signal to the body as time to sleep.
That way, those of you who suffer from insomnia, will have a regular sleep schedule. This regularity will appear with better sleep quality so that the body will be fresher the next day.
8. Adding Insights
Reading books can fill our heads about various kinds of new information that we haven't known so far, which are likely to be of use to us later.
The more knowledge we have, the better prepared we will be to face life's challenges both now and in the future.
In addition, knowledge is a very valuable thing that can never be lost even if we lose other things in this world, such as property, objects, or others.
The stories, and ideas contained in a book that we read can help to open our minds to get to know the other world better, get more understanding than before.
9. Personal Development Media
Reading makes a person accustomed to seeing problems and finding solutions from other people's point of view. For this reason, this reading activity can be a means for self-reflection and a medium for self-development in a better direction.
Ideas, solutions, and motivations obtained from books can be taken into consideration or comparisons in making decisions.
10. Developing Vocabulary
Apart from insight, a person's verbal skills can also be developed by reading a lot. Doing reading activities regularly, it will indirectly expand the vocabulary that you have. Therefore, it would be very good if the hobby of reading is familiarized from an early age in children.
This is because when children still have high learning abilities, reading can develop their vocabulary skills very rapidly. Where the vocabulary is needed in the world of education later.
The more we read books, the more we will get explanations about things we don't know yet, and can increase the number of vocabulary that we can use in our daily lives.
This of course can help us to be able to articulate, help convey opinions in straightforward language, and can increase self-confidence when talking to other people.
11. Writing Ability Triggers
What's the point in reading without trying to put it in writing? As mentioned earlier, reading can enrich your vocabulary, as well as broaden your horizons. Both of these assets can be used as a basis for honing writing skills.
In addition, by reading a lot, you will indirectly get to know the writing style and point of view of the author. At the same time you will also get lots of ideas for your own writing material.
12. Improve Public Speaking Skills
Furthermore, the benefits of reading books that you also indirectly get are that you can improve your public speaking skills. Actually, this ability is also closely related to the expansion of vocabulary obtained from reading.
Apart from vocabulary, reading can add material to the topics discussed when you speak in a public space. You can add a quote or author's opinion when doing a speech, MC or other public speaking activity.
13. Improve Analysis Ability
In both fiction and nonfiction books, there are times when you find that what you are experiencing is similar to the story in the book. For that by reading, you will begin to guess whether the ending of the story matches your thinking.
This is what makes reading can improve your ability to analyze things.
14. Adding enthusiasm
Books have various types or genres to suit various kinds of a person's character. Therefore, books can make you more excited because of the positive energy that is in them.
For example, for those of you who want to be successful entrepreneurs, reading books on successful figures will give you an injection of enthusiasm and motivation to do the same thing.
15. Not Wasting Precious Time
Instead of just scrolling your cellphone to a friend's account, daydreaming, or chatting, filling your spare time by reading can certainly make your lost time more valuable.
Especially when you already know the myriad benefits of reading above. Get in the habit of spending time reading. When you are alone in your room, on public transportation or while waiting for someone.
16. Can stimulate mentally
The brain is one of the organs in the body that requires exercise to stay strong and healthy like any other organ in the body. Reading books can keep the brain active so that it can function properly.
Several studies have shown that reading books can stimulate mental health and can even prevent Alzheimer's disease and dementia.
17. Can Expand Someone's Thought
People who read books have been reported to have higher levels of creativity than people who are not or less fond of reading. By reading books, we can share experiences with others about various kinds of things, which later we can use as material for consideration in deciding something.
18. Can Improve Social Relations
The activity of fond of reading this book also affects aspects of human social life, where he can get to know various kinds of characteristics, culture, and social life of a society. So that if one day he visits the place, he already knows how to behave to respect their customs and culture.
19. Can Help Prevent Decline in Cognitive Function
Based on a study conducted by Rush University Medical Center, it is stated that someone who spends their time doing creative or intellectual activities such as reading experiences a cognitive decline rate of up to 32% than those who do not read later in the day.
Reading books can make the brain work more efficiently by changing the structure of age-related neuropathologies.
20. Can Drive Someone's Life Purpose
According to research conducted by Ohio State University, it is stated that reading books can help someone to get motivated to overcome various kinds of obstacles, so that later they can help in achieving their life goals.
When a person can better identify the characters, experiences, and various kinds of events as if it were happening to them, the more likely it is for them to take action.
21. Can Help Us To Connect With The Outside World
A psychologist from the University of Buffalo stated that when someone is reading a book, it can help him to identify the characters in the book he is reading.
He or she will experience the kind of real-life relationship that can enhance a sense of inclusion. In other words, reading can increase friendship with the outside world.
Conclusion:
Reading takes us into worlds we've never seen, introduces us to people we've never met, and instills emotions we may not have felt before. Reading also provides various health benefits.
Those were 21 types of benefits of reading books that many people don't know about. You don't have to buy books to start your reading hobby.
Just take advantage of the public library in the area where you live to get book loans. It saves money more, but the benefits are as great as having your own book. Good luck!