Dr. Seuss once wrote, “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”
Over the coming weeks as our children are off school, it’s a great opportunity to look after your child’s brain health with reading.
Diving into a good book opens up a whole world of knowledge and exposure to vocabulary through reading.
Regular reading can help make you smarter and it can increase your brain power.
Just like going for a brisk walk exercises your cardiovascular system, reading regularly improves memory function by giving your brain a good workout.
As we age, we can experience a decline in memory and brain function, but regular reading may help slow down the process, keeping minds sharper longer.
Frequent brain exercise was able to lower mental decline by 32%, reports The Huffington Post*.
Reading can help reduce stress
Research suggests that reading can work as a serious stress buster, reading for 6 minutes each day can reduce stress by 68%**.
"Losing yourself in a book is the ultimate relaxation. 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,” cognitive neuropsychologist David Lewis told The Telegraph.
Reading can make you more empathetic
Fiction titles have the power to help us understand what others are thinking by reading and paying attention to other people’s emotions.
The impact is much more significant on those who read literary fiction as opposed to those who read nonfiction.
Reading before bed can help you sleep
Creating a bedtime ritual, like switching off devices, taking a bath or reading before bed, signals to your body that it’s time to wind down and go to sleep. Reading a real book helps you relax more than zoning out in front of your mobile, laptop, TV or Kindle ( yes we prefer real books ) before bed. Reach for the literal page-turners before switching off the light.
(And it’s pretty much guaranteed that you won’t be able to put a good book down after just 6 minutes)
Dr Clara Russell
* https://www.realsimple.com/health/preventative-health/benefits-of-reading-real-books
