In this digitally advanced age, we cannot find many avid-readers. A survey suggests that leisure reading habit has dropped significantly in favour of television, movies, the internet, and digital devices. Another research indicated that sixty-five percent of Australians read for a few hours every week. And, only fifteen percent of college-going students are frequent readers, and about thirty-one percent do no reading at all. Well, it’s true that technology has changed our reading habits as now we spend most of the time on a tablet or smartphone. And, most people’s daily reading habits are centered around tweets and Facebook updates. If you’re one of those countless people, then you must know that by avoiding books, you are actually missing many benefits. Here we have discussed some major ways in which reading books can be beneficial to us:

1. Provides a stress-free life

A group of psychologists at the University of Sussex has proven that reading books can be a more effective stress-reliever than listening to music, consuming coffee or doing meditation. This is because it relaxes our frazzled nerve cells by reducing the level of stress hormones, such as Cortisol, Adrenocortical, and Vasopressin. Thus, even two hours of reading can reduce the stress level up to two-thirds. Research also proved that reading allows the mind to distract itself from all the worldly things, which helps in releasing the tension of muscles, and thus, provides a more calming effect.

2. Inculcates moral values

Reading books exposes our mind to a vast set of ideas and also presents good examples. By reading stories, we can connect ourselves with the protagonists and learn the values that made him/her so likable. Researchers have also found that living someone else’s life in imagination can help us decide whether the actions taken by that person were right or wrong. This, in turn, makes us better at making decisions.

3. Broadens perspective

Reading something out of your comfort zone allows the brain to capture a wide range of ideas and gives the chance to reflect on yourself positively. By reading a fiction or fantasy novel, although we get to know about one character and his problems, it opens our minds to new possibilities, which helps us experience and analyze the world through others' lives. According to a team of neuroscientists at Emory University, reading fictions can improve our cognitive skills, and it helps in broadening our imagination by stimulating the right hemisphere of the brain.

4. Boosts intellectual power

Reading gives our brain a good workout just like any other exercise does to the body. Thus, it increases the memory power and many other abilities, such as creativity, verbal comprehension, spatial orientation, inductive reasoning, and associative memory. A brain-imaging study in 2009 shed light on the fact that a bookaholic's brain could actually retain the memories of sound, scenery, smell, and taste for a longer time. Moreover, it was proved that reading regularly increases our attention span by enhancing function of the memory muscles in the brain.

5. Improves sleep

Australians are in the grip of a sleep deprivation epidemic that is a major reason behind decrease in nation's productivity, risking safety and damaging mental health. This is why leading medical professionals recommend their patients of insomnia to make a habit of pre-bedtime reading. It is a fabulous way to remind our brain it's time to sleep, and in the long run, it is more effective than consuming sleeping pills.

6. Sharpens communication skills

Voracious book readers can express their feelings in a better way than others. This is because reading helps us learn a wide range of vocabulary. Moreover, it lets us know so many phrases and sentences in the context of every situation. This is why it is also said to be the best way to learn a new language.

Apart from all the above-mentioned benefits, reading habit can curb mental ailments like Alzheimer's disease and dyslexia as it prevents the formation of amyloid plaques (protein fragments within the nerve cell). Thus, we can conclude that it improves our mental health which ultimately helps us become a better individual. So, from now take a few hours from your busy routine to peruse a book of your choice. However, if loads of college projects are not letting you explore this interest, then feel free to ask us for assistance. Our team of academic writers can help with assignments of any topic. By availing our service, you can qualify the internal assessments with good grades.