Why Reading is One of the Most Beneficial Pastimes

Reading has been one of my favorite hobbies for several years. Whether it’s romance, mystery, fantasy, science fiction or some other genre, reading is a great way to take a break from reality and delve into another universe.

If you aren’t a bookworm, I can relate to you, though. I haven’t always enjoyed reading, but once I gave it a chance and discovered my preferred genres, I began to love it.

If you do decide to give reading for fun a try, you’ll likely begin to notice several obvious benefits of reading, and even a few less noticeable ones.

1. It enriches your mind.

Reading is a great way to exercise your brain and expose it to more knowledge. Even if you are reading a work of fiction, you can still learn things about life or the world that you otherwise wouldn’t have known.

However, the most obvious way to learn a broad range of new information is by reading nonfiction. From biographies to retellings of real-life events, nonfiction works contain factual accounts of people or events that can be more interesting than you might originally think.

2. It makes you a better writer.

It’s a long-known theory that frequent reading has a positive effect on writing skills. Being repeatedly exposed to well-written literature can impact your own writing as you pick up on the language, style and flow of published authors’ work.

Most of the time, this doesn’t happen after reading just one book, though. It takes several exposures to good writing before it can start to have a noticeable effect on your own writing.

3. It provides an emotional pick-me-up.

We all have days when we feel like everything is going wrong, or someone has hurt our feelings. When those days happen, reading a book can take your mind off the stress and help you refocus.

However, reading can only help you emotionally if you’ve found a book that suits your tastes. Figuring out which genres you enjoy can take some time, but once you have it figured out, you will begin to notice the calming effects of reading almost instantly.

4. It helps you perform better in the classroom.

Research suggests that those who read for pleasure perform better in subjects such as reading, grammar and problem solving, while also broadening the reader’s vocabulary.

Those who are familiar with college entrance exams and other high-stakes exams know that reading, particularly speed reading and comprehension, is an important skill to have in order to achieve a high score.

Frequent reading for pleasure can not only help you become a faster reader, but it can also help you more quickly understand the themes, plot and other facets of stories, including exam passages.

5. It’s just plain fun.

In addition to all the other benefits, reading can be a very enjoyable activity, especially if you’ve discovered the right genres for you.

When you begin to love reading, you will be able to envision the events of the story in your mind, almost like your own personal movie. This brings a level of realism to the story, while also sending your imagination on an exciting adventure.

In short, there are a variety of benefits to reading, many of which are valuable in the long term. At first, reading may seem like a chore, but once you get sucked into a good story, your love for reading can only grow from there.