Chandana Mendis

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Draculata Erehiwa Sherlock Holmes

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Sherlock Holmes Antharaya Adawiyaka

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Abirahas Dosthara Samaga Sherlock Holmes

Since you were a little kid, parents, teachers, and other adults have been telling you how important reading is — heck, half of my job as a books writer is to convince you how important it is. But why exactly does it matter so much? Aside from the fact that reading offers great entertainment, promotes deep thinking, and has the ability to take you anywhere in the world with the turn of a page, there are also scientific reasons that reading is amazing for your health.

It’s easy to rattle off all of the reasons we like reading. It’s fun, it’s relaxing, it’s emotional, etc. But what are the benefits of reading, really? Does turning the pages burn calories and build muscle? Does reading improve your eyesight? No, it isn’t a magic path to weight loss or a cure for nearsightedness, but believe it or not, there are many links between certain health benefits and reading. Books have the power not only to inspire, educate, and move people, but also to make your life better and healthier.

I know that it all sounds too good to be true, but it is, and it turns out that all those years you’ve spent curled up on the couch with a book instead of running on the treadmill might not have been as bad for you as you thought. Don’t believe me? Here are six scientific reasons reading is amazing for you. And just think, you don’t even need to sign up for the gym to do it!

1. It Can Improve Your Memory

According to Ken Pugh, President and Director of Research at Yale’s Haskins Labratories, reading can be great for your memory. Reading works different parts of the brain than watching a movie or listening to music does, including those dealing with vision, language, and associative learning. People who read more have more complex brains. What does that mean, exactly? Among other things, it means that the mental activity of reading helps to keep memory sharp.

In addition to helping improve your memory in general, reading can help prevent Alzheimer’s, according to a study at the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. The study shows a link between exercising your brain in mentally challenging ways, like reading, and a slower rate of decline in memory. In other words, the more you read and stimulate your brain, the more you can help protect your memory.

2. It Reduces Your Stress Level

You know when you curl up with a good book at the end of the day and you just feel your stress start to melt away? Well, it turns out there’s actually a scientific reason behind it. According to researchers at the Mindlab International at the University of Sussex, reading for just six minutes can help reduce stress levels by up to 68 percent. The study found that participants who read after having their stress elevated became more relaxed than participants who tried other stress relievers, like walking or listening to music.

According to Dr. Lewis, the person behind the tests, “It really doesn’t matter what book you read, by losing yourself in a thoroughly engrossing book you can escape from the worries and stresses of the everyday world and spend a while exploring the domain of the author’s imagination.” Don’t you just feel more relaxed thinking about it?

3. It Can Be Therapeutic

According to consumer behavior researcher Cristel Russell, rereading is especially good for you. In a study about “re-consumption” — the practice of rereading a book, rewatching a movie, etc. — researchers found that people who engaged in it weren’t just looking to enjoy their favorite book or film over again, but were instead trying to find new meaning in them. In other words, revisiting something familiar as a new person offers a new perspective, and when done right, plenty of therapeutic benefits and an opportunity for self-reflection as well.

4. It Improves Brain Function

Memory isn’t the only part of the brain that can be enhanced by reading. According to a study at Emory University published in Brain Connectivity, reading has been found to enhance connectivity in the brain, which in turn improves brain function. The study also found that when a person is reading fiction, their ability to empathize was improved. Like the visualization of muscle memory in sports, engaging with fiction helped the reader use their imagination and put themselves in someone else’s shoes.

5. It Increases Your Attention Span

With so many modern distractions, it isn’t a surprise people have shorter attention spans than we used to. But according to neuroscientist Baroness Susan Greenfield, reading can help with that, at least when it comes to children. Because of the structure of stories (a beginning, a middle, and an end), reading helps kids’ brains process things in sequence and link cause to effect, which in turn helps them think more clearly and hold their attention longer.

6. It Can Help You Live Longer

While we still haven’t discovered the Fountain of Youth, researchers have discovered that reading can help keep you young. According to Harvard Medical School’s Family Health Guide, reading, like other mentally stimulating activities, requires mental effort that creates new connections between nerve cells. Reading can even help you build up a “reserve” that can come in handy with brain cell loss later in life.

And while it can’t help reduce wrinkles, researchers in the United Kingdom have found that reading in a book club can help you live longer. For people of retirement age, a book club helps you keep your social connections and makes you engage when you would otherwise be at risk of withdrawing, providing you with a good support system when needed and an overall better quality of life.

By SADIE TROMBETTA

If you had to calculate how much time per day you spend watching TV vs. reading a book, what would your totals be? No fudging the numbers! If you’re like most of America, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2014 report, people over 15 watch an average of 2.5 hours of TV per day during the workweek, while only reading for leisure about a half hour.

While surfing the web and otherwise being glued to smartphones also takes up a considerable amount of leisure time, there are more and more ways to get one’s fill of their favorite shows nowadays. Yet, it’s estimated that 42 percent of college graduates will never read another book after they finish their degrees. That’s a long life of missing out on (literal) page-turners.

Love This? Never Miss Another Story.

Are there scientific reasons as to why putting down the remote and picking up a book may be better for your health? A Japanese study earlier this year found that TV watching actually can alter the composition of your brain. Studying 276 children and teens led to the discovery that higher amounts of time in front of the tube increased frontal lobe grey matter, yet lowered verbal IQ.

Another study, however, discovered lasting positive results from reading a novel. They performed MRIs to college students before, during and after reading a novel and found increased connectivity in the parts of the brain responsible for language receptivity—so much so that the heightened connectivity was retained days later, much like “muscle memory.”

Dr. Gregory Berns, of the Emory University study, stated, “At a minimum, we can say that reading stories—especially those with strong narrative arcs—reconfigures brain networks for at least a few days. It shows how stories can stay with us. This may have profound implications for children and the role of reading in shaping their brains.” Pretty profound, indeed.

What else can reading do for the mind? A study at the University of Sussex found that participants who were stressed needed only six minutes of reading for their heart rates and muscle tension to subside. Six minutes! Overall, reading reduced stress levels by 68 percent, closely followed by listening to music (61 percent), drinking coffee (54 percent) and taking a walk (42 percent). Dr. David Lewis describes the effect, “It really doesn’t matter what book you read, by losing yourself in a thoroughly engrossing book you can escape from the worries and stresses of the everyday world and spend a while exploring the domain of the author’s imagination.”

With most 15-19 year-olds only reading 9 minutes per day (compared to 2.6 hours of TV) and 75 and older folks reading an hour per day (yet, 4.4 daily hours of TV), perhaps tipping the scale toward paperbacks could make a big dent in our overall stress levels. Sure, unplugging from the day in front of the tube can feel like it’s just what we need, but what if we really unplugged and, instead, picked up a good book? With websites such as Good Reads and What Should I Read Next? on our sides, this can become a (non-virtual) reality.

From http://www.care2.com/greenliving

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Draculata Erehiwa Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes Antharaya Adawiyaka

Abirahas Dosthara Samaga Sherlock Holmes

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