10 Reasons Why You Should Read Books! From the online article, “Why to Read: 10 Reasons Why Reading Books Will Save Your Life”Why to Read: 10 Reasons Why Reading Books Will Save Your Life

1. To Develop Your Verbal Abilities  Although it doesn’t always make you a better communicator, those who read tend to have a more varied range of words to express how they feel and to get their point across. The more you read, the more your vocabulary increases exponentially, giving you more terminology to use in everyday life.

2. Improves Your Focus and Concentration  Unlike blog posts and news articles, sitting down with a book takes long periods of focus and concentration, which at first is hard to do. But when you become fully engaged in a book, you close yourself off to the outside world and immerse yourself in the text. Over time, this will strengthen your attention span.

3. Readers Enjoy The Arts and Improve The World  Studies show that people who read for pleasure are many times more likely than those who do not to visit museums and attend concerts, and almost three times as likely to perform volunteer and charity work. Readers actively participate in the world around them. This participation is critical to individual and social well-being.

4. It Improves Your Imagination  You are only limited by what you can imagine, and the worlds described in books help to expand your understanding of the possibilities. By reading a written description of an event or a place, your mind can create that image in your head rather than simply seeing the image in front of you on TV.

5. Reading Makes You Smarter  Books offer many learning opportunities at a much cheaper price than taking a class. When you read, you do a lot of research in a short amount of time. It has been noted that heavy readers have and show greater knowledge of how things work and who or what people were.

6. It Makes You Interesting And Attractive  Just as reading makes you smarter, information that you have picked up from non-fiction reading will come in handy everyday conversation. You will be able to add to the conversation instead of having to remain quiet or leave. You will be able to speak with a wider variety of people in conversation and, in turn, continue to improve your knowledge and conversation skills.

7. It Reduces Stress  Studies have shown that reading reduces stress. You only needed to read silently for six minutes to slow down your heart rate and ease tension. In fact, you could lower your stress levels to BELOW what it was before you started reading!

8. It Improves Your Memory  “Typically, when you read, you have more time to think. Reading gives you a unique pause button for comprehension and insight. By and large, with oral language—when you watch a film or listen to a tape—you don’t press pause” (Maryanne Wolf). Reading keeps your memory sharp and your capacity for learning large.

9. To Discover and Create Yourself  We should read to increase our intelligence and imagination–in short, our entire consciousness–and also to heal our pain. There are endless perspectives and lives we can read about. Books give us an opportunity to have experiences that we haven’t yet. They also allow us to learn life skills. Books are a fast track to creating yourself.

10. For Entertainment  All the previously discussed benefits of reading are a BONUS result of the most important benefit of reading: Its entertainment value. Reading could be a chore if not for the entertainment value. Reading is fun; much more enthralling than watching a movie or a TV show. A good book can keep us amused while developing our life skills.