ICYMI: The Value and Advantages of Reading Books

Staff and students have benefitted from reading books in a multitude of ways.

With such busy schedules, people find sitting down and reading a hard task. Trying to find time to read a magazine, newspaper or book stresses some people. In the morning when students sit in the library socializing, they could be looking for a good item to read. Reading brings new light to individuals when they understand the benefit to their health and what reading can do.

1) Broadens Vocabulary

 

The books people read gives them the vocabulary that everyone needs to have conversations. Every time a person picks up a book, new words and their meaning are learned.

“A lot of the books I read have a harder vocab that I have to figure out,” senior Brittney Zuidema said. “I try to figure out the sentence before, the sentence after and sometimes I still have to look it up. Most of the time I can figure it out.”

2) Gives Muscle Memory to the Brain

 

The more a person reads the more that person recognizes a word that is being repeated. Any word can have a meaning.

3) Brightens People’s Days

 

Some people find inspiration when reading. A good laugh from a comedy or a tear from a tragedy, every book has a way of making someone’s day better.

4) Melts Away Stress

 

Stress can be melted away in multiple ways. One of the ways is from a story. It does not have to be a certain type of book. It just has to be one that is comfortable to read.

5) Makes a Person More Empathetic

 

Reading makes many people more connected with other people’s feelings. When reading a book about dogs being abused, some people might want to try to help dogs in shelters by giving them a home. Which when getting all the information to get a dog from a shelter the person is reading.

6) Keeps the Brain Young

 

The brain has pathways to encode information to the memory system.

“When reading a book, you have to remember a multitude of details (characters, history, plots, sub-plots, etc),” Avanti Wellness and Rehabilitation wrote. “Every new memory you create builds new brain pathways and strengthens existing ones, which assists in short-term memory recall.”

Reading exercises the mind to make it stay young and fit.  It does not literally mean young, but it makes the brain more active in remembering the long and short term memories.

7) Encourages the Creation of Life Goals

 

When reading a motivational story, it makes a large group of readers think about their life. One way that books help with life goals is when the story inspires the reader to do something.

“I read a lot of the science and it kinda just makes me want help improve our planet like they do in those books and just try and enjoy nature and stuff,” Zuidema said.

8) More Connection

 

When reading a newspaper or magazines there are stories that make people want to help out in some way. Adopt an animal, recycle or go to a food pantry and help out the community. One way people in the community can help with is by donating books because it is one of the needs for a newborn to five years old. The books help the child’s brain develop and be more connected with the world.

9) Saves Money

 

When buying a book to read multiple times or renting a book to read cost less than going to the movies to see it only once.

“From what I have heard, most of the time books are a lot better than movies and from the one book I have started reading compared to the movie it was it was good,” junior Nathan Cavanaugh said. “They’re a lot more descriptive and if you go to the library and rent the book you don’t have to like spend money and like waste it on a movie that you are going to see like once and then you’re going to get bored of it.”