Have you ever wondered about the benefits of reading books? There are so many benefits to reading books, both physically and mentally, and it’s absolutely incredible what adding a reading habit to your life can do for you!
So if you’re wondering about the importance of reading books or why reading is good for you, here are all the benefits of reading that you should know!
1. Reading Reduces Stress
Did you know that reading is one of the best ways to reduce stress and anxiety and promote relaxation?
When you’re reading, you’re transported to the world of your book and taken away from the stressors of everyday life. And while anecdotally you might already feel that reading reduces stress, a study done in 2009 by Mindlab International at the University of Sussex also found that reading can reduce blood pressure, lower your heart rate, and overall decrease stress up to 68%.
Additionally, other studies have been done on this phenomenon as well and found reading can be comparable to yoga in terms of stress reduction! So reading is a great way to escape the pressures of life and reduce your stress for a while.
2. Reading Exercises and Strengthens Your Brain
Reading also overall does a good job of exercising your brain and strengthening it.
When you’re reading, you have to keep track of the different characters, settings, facts, etc. that go along with any fiction or non-fiction work. The mental exercise gives your brain a great workout, just like physically exercising gives your body a great workout!
3. Reading Improves Memory
Similarly, another of the top advantages of reading books is that it can improve your memory.
Reading books engages all sorts of mental abilities, including episodic memory (memory of plot points that happened earlier in a story) and working memory (keeping track of recently read paragraphs while continuing to read).
As we get older, our memory tends to decline. But as you regularly read, you engage both of these types of memory and it has been shown by researchers at the Beckman Institute that reading helps improve and practice the skills of memory. (While this particular study focused on effects of reading on memory in older adults, it’s never too early or too late to start exercising your brain and improving your memory!)
4. Reading Improves Concentration and Focus
Why is reading good for you? Another reason you’ll find reading beneficial is that it can improve your concentration and focus.
Especially if you feel like you’re getting distracted more easily these days with all the short-form content out there (we see you, TikTok), reading a book that excites you and gets you interested in reading again is a great way to start building back up your ability to concentrate and focus.
Because in order to read and to fully understand the story, you’re going to have to focus and concentrate at least a little. And over time you’ll keep working this muscle and building up your ability to focus!
5. Reading Builds Your Vocabulary
Another undisputed benefit of reading is that it builds your vocabulary. Ever come across a word in a book that you don’t know? Well, then you’ve just learned a new word!
The more you read, the more you’re likely to come across new words (and if you want to learn a lot of cool new words, that can be a great reason to read the classics!). But no matter what you read, as you read more and more, you’re likely to find your vocabulary growing and improving.
6. Reading Increases Empathy
Reading also has the benefit of increasing empathy, particularly if you often read fiction works.
When reading and being transported into lives outside our own, we not only often feel empathy or kinship with the characters but this can also translate to real life empathy for real life people. And those who read fiction also often are better at working out what others are thinking and feeling.
So not only can you understand and share the feelings of the characters in books you read, but likely reading will also increase your empathy toward those around you.
7. Reading Can Help You Reach Goals
Another possible benefit to reading books is that it can help you reach goals, in your reading life and otherwise.
I talk a lot on here about reading goals: everything from how to set them, to why you should set them, to how to reach them. Obviously, reading would help you reach a reading goal…but can it also help you reach other goals for your life?
In some cases, it definitely can! Setting and reaching reading goals can help give you dopamine in reaching these easier goals that might help you be more motivated to keep going toward other goals you’ve set for your life.
Additionally, if you set good reading habits and reading goals and actually get in the groove of reading, you could use reading as your base for habit stacking (adding a new activity you want to be a habit onto an old behavior you already have set).
8. Reading is a Form of (Mostly Free) Entertainment
Looking for a free or mostly free form of entertainment? An incredible benefit of books is that they’re a great way to stay entertained without blowing your budget!
Books have so much entertainment to offer—from exciting new fantasy worlds, to humorous stories, to historical anecdotes, to exciting memoirs. There’s really something for everyone!
And books are also cheaper than many forms of entertainment, as you can get them as ebooks or secondhand if you need cheap options, or even borrowed from a library if you want to read for completely free!
9. Reading Improves Sleep Quality
If you read before bed, you might find that reading also helps improve your sleep!
Reading can be a helpful step in a bedtime routine that sets you up for a good night’s sleep. In fact, some studies have found that reading in bed before sleeping not only improves overall sleep quality but might also help you stay asleep throughout the night!
Bedtime reading can help your brain relax and quiet down, and might be a helpful step in kicking insomnia and sleep problems to the curb!
10. Reading Increases General Knowledge
Whether you’re reading non-fiction or fiction, it’s also a well-known fact that reading can benefit you by overall increasing your knowledge.
Books of all sorts are filled with fun and interesting facts and stories, and no matter what type of books you like to read you’re going to come across interesting things you wouldn’t have known if you hadn’t read.
Of course, the more widely you read and the more varied the subjects and genres you choose the more varied your knowledge will be, but reading is always introducing you to new ideas and facts no matter what you choose!
11. Reading is Motivational
Ever read a good story that makes you feel like you can conquer the world? Sometimes when we read real or fictional stories about overcoming challenges, we can get motivated to overcome the challenges in our lives!
It can also just make you feel more positive about life and give you encouragement to keep going. So whether you’re reading a self-help book, a novel, or a true story of perseverance, you just might find it gives you a motivational boost to your life as well.
12. Reading Offers a Positive Example
Another perk of reading is for others around you: reading can be a positive example to them and encourage them to start reading as well!
This is especially true for kids, as early literacy development is important and you can model the importance of reading to them by your own example. But it can also be a positive influence on older kids and other adults you live with or interact with frequently, as they’ll see you reading and might be inspired to do the same!
13. Reading Might Help You Live Longer
Want to live forever? Reading might be able to help you with that. Well, not literally forever…but at least it might help with living longer!
A study from 2016 has found that reading books can reduce your risk of mortality by 20% compared with non-book readers. And it’s not just reading anything that helps—reading books specifically increases your survival advantage.
So if you want to live longer, turn off the TV and pick up a book!
14. Reading Can Help With Depression
Struggle with depression? One benefit of reading is that it might help you manage your depression symptoms!
The Reading Agency reports a study in 2015 (Dowrick) that explored the effects of a reading group program for people who have been diagnosed with depression. This study found a suggested link between reading and reduction of depressive symptoms for participants, and it is part of a growing body of literature that explores the impact of reading on neurological conditions like depression.
Now, I’m not at all suggesting you rely on reading as your sole treatment for depression. I would, in fact, suggest you seek actual medical help and take advantage of all the resources available to you (including calling the suicide lifeline at 988 if you are struggling!)
But in addition to licensed medical help, if you have depression then it is possible that reading for pleasure could be an extra avenue to help manage your symptoms.
15. Reading Prevents and Slows Cognitive Decline
Another huge physical benefit of reading for your health is that it could help prevent and slow cognitive decline, especially as you grow older!
Daily reading activity is linked with preventing long-term decline in cognitive function (including possibly Alzheimer’s and dementia related cognitive impairment). While reading isn’t a cure-all preventative, it has been shown to reduce risk of cognitive decline and that is definitely something to take seriously!
And lest you think you’ll just start reading in your old age, studies have also shown that cognitive activity (like reading) in early life is linked to slower cognitive decline in later life.
So if you can, it’s best to get started early with reading to reap the most benefits later on! Though, it’s also never to late to start…so don’t get discouraged if you haven’t yet developed a reading habit.
16. Reading Exposes You to New and Different Perspectives
We all go through life with one primary perspective: our own. But sometimes this means we live in a bubble and don’t really know that much about life outside our own bubble! Reading can help with this by exposing you to new and different perspectives.
Whether you’re reading non-fiction and discovering the ways real life people think about different topics or about their life experiences, or reading fiction and seeing the world through the eyes of the author and the fictional characters, reading always opens you up to experiencing the world through the eyes of someone else.
This can give you a new perspective on life as well as give you new perspective on ideas and issues in the world, and might even help you change your mind about things or simply see the world in a new way!
17. Reading Improves Communication Skills
Another advantage of reading is that it could help you improve your communication skills and communicate with others more effectively.
Reading can help with communication in a variety of ways, including helping you learn how to listen and empathize with others and learning how to speak better. For instance, as you read and your vocabulary grows, you’ll be able to choose more effective word choices when communicating with others.
And the ability reading gives you to observe and understand others’ points of view can also help you communicate better, as you might be able to figure out why they think or act a certain way and how to communicate your point of view with them in a way they can understand.
These are just a few of the ways reading can improve your communication skills and help you speak appropriately with a variety of people!
18. Reading Improves Conversation Skills
Similarly, reading can also improve your conversation skills.
One of the big ways reading does this is by giving you something to talk about. As you learn new things, you’ll have all those new things to talk about with people! And the more varied your reading, the more you’ll know about the world and the more topics you’ll be able to converse on.
Of course, once you start reading you can also ask book lovers all sorts of fun questions about reading, but your new topics of conversation can be about the content of what you read too…from cool plotlines in the story you’re reading, to how airplanes work. The sky’s the limit on what you can read and then discuss!
19. Reading Improves Overall Mental Well-Being
As we’ve seen throughout this article, there are lots of mental benefits of reading. But it’s also important to just take a second to recognize how all of these individual benefits add into one big benefit of better mental well-being.
From reducing stress, to fighting depression symptoms, to improving memory, and everything else, as you read you’re really giving your brain an excellent boost that will improve your cognitive functioning and also give a boost to your mood.
This results in an improvement of your overall mental well-being that can be such an exciting thing to see happen in your own life!
20. Reading Helps You Learn How to Analyze Information
Want to improve your analyzing skills? If so, reading once again can help you!
Reading and textual analysis have often gone hand in hand, and as you continue to read you’ll get even better at analyzing what you read and analyzing other things in your life.
When you analyze a text, you’re studying it to understand the who, what, when, where, why, and how of everything that is happening. And as you exercise your brain in this way of looking methodically into the structure of a text, your analysis skills will continue to improve.
21. Reading Teaches You to Think Critically
Similarly but slightly more broadly, reading can help you develop critical thinking skills.
Critical thinking is analyzing facts, evidence, observations, and more to decide what is true and makes sense using as rational and unbiased means as possible. And when you read, your ability to comprehend and analyze the text and its arguments can help you develop the skills for thinking critically.
You will at first have to be active in your critical thinking/reading, and will need to be reflective and consider the validity of the statements and arguments you’re reading. Does it match up with other things you already know to be true? Do you agree or disagree and why?
There are all sorts of critical thinking questions and skills that you’ll learn to ask as you read when you read carefully and analytically.
22. Reading Improves Your Writing Skills
Reading can also most definitely improve your writing skills, which is another huge benefit to reading books!
There are several ways it does this, but some of the big ones are that it increases your vocabulary so you can be more precise in your writing and it also exposes you to lots of different styles of writing so you can discover what works well and what is written poorly.
As you expose yourself to good writing and help yourself learn the difference, your own writing is sure to improve as well! And if you read and then use a reading tracker or reading journal to write a short review of the books you read, you’ll also give yourself lots of extra practice writing which can also help improve your writing skills drastically over time.
23. Reading Helps You Better Understand Yourself and Others
Something else reading can do for you is to help you understand yourself and others better.
This is somewhat similar to empathy, but really it’s just about getting exposure to lots of situations and scenarios and the different ways people react to and think about things.
You’ll find this benefit whether you read fiction or non-fiction books, but essentially it’s just those moments of understanding “Hey, I do this too!” or “Ohhh I wonder if that’s why I do this”…or similarly for other people’s habits and actions too.
Sometimes we don’t recognize something about ourselves or others until we see examples, and reading is a great way to expose yourself to those examples and discover what makes you and others tick.
24. Reading Enhances Your Imagination
Reading can also benefit you by enhancing your imagination, which is particularly true for those who read fiction often!
With fiction books, often you’re forced to imagine all sorts of things using your own brain. Unlike TV where the visuals are all given to you, books give you more of a structure within which you can use your own imagination to fill in the details.
If you want to be more creative and imaginative, then reading fiction is an excellent place to start giving your imagination some exercise!
25. Reading Gives You a Break From Technology
In our world today, we’re so saturated with technology that tech can rule nearly every waking moment of our daily lives. (Just tell me how many times you’ve checked your phone or scrolled social media today… 😉) So reading good old analog books is a great way to make sure you have a break from all the screen time!
Of course, there are ebooks as well (and I love my Kindle!) but there’s something special about holding a book in your hands and flipping through the pages as you read. It’s more tactile, and might actually help you retain more information you read as well.
So even though ebooks are an option, if you’re looking for ways to take a break from technology then print books can be just the break you need!
26. Reading Increases Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence is another related benefit of reading, which essentially means you’re able to recognize and manage your own (and others’) emotions.
As mentioned earlier, reading (especially fiction) can hugely help you in understanding the expressions and feelings of others. And it can help you understand yourself better too. And when you understand and recognize your own and others’ emotions, you’re able to manage them better and take care of your own well-being.
27. Reading Can Help You Find Your Passion
If you’ve ever felt like you’re not quite sure what you’re passionate about, then reading could also benefit you by helping you find your passion!
Of course, you might discover that reading itself is your passion 😁 But what I really mean here is that as you read and discover more about the world (especially non-fiction books) you might discover new fields and facts that fascinate you. Or you might discover new hobbies and interests through reading as well!
And when you do this, you might just find you’ve unlocked a whole new hobby and passion to enjoy!
28. Reading Gives You a Sense of Accomplishment
Need a quick win and want to feel accomplished? Read a book!
Whether you read a few pages, a chapter, or the whole book, the act of reading and making progress through a book can easily give you dopamine and the satisfaction of accomplishing something.
And we mentioned reading goals earlier, but they can also be a great way to amplify this sense of accomplishment as you reach each goal and get to check it off your list!
As you read books and reach the end and/or reach your reading goals, you’ll start to feel just as accomplished as you actually are!
29. Reading Encourages Inclusivity and Diversity
Many of us have a lot of homogeneity in our experiences, as we’re only living our own lives and generally most familiar and comfortable with what seems normal to us and in our community. But reading can pop this bubble and help us experience more inclusivity and diversity!
There are so many books out there with different viewpoints, voices, and experiences…and reading books from a variety of diverse authors can help you experience those viewpoints even if you wouldn’t normally encounter them in your everyday life. So reading diverse books can be a great way to encourage inclusivity of more lived experiences!
30. Reading Makes You More Well-Rounded
If you haven’t yet gotten the idea, reading is pretty incredible in what it can do for you. And we should just take a minute to point out that overall it does a great job of making you more well-rounded.
Whether by increasing your vocabulary, increasing your knowledge, helping you think better, helping you use your imagination, or anything else we’ve already discussed, your mental abilities and emotional capabilities are going to improve as you read and this will help you become a more well-rounded and educated individual.
31. Reading Can Help You Make Friends
Like other hobbies, Reading is also a great way to make friends as it gives you a feeling of connection with others who like reading as well.
There are so many avenues to connect with others and make friends through reading, so if you want to take advantage of this benefit you can do all sorts of things from joining a book club to connecting with others about books on social media (like on Bookstagram!)
Having hobbies in common is one of the best way to make friends, so reading can definitely help you out with your social life as well!
32. Reading Gives You Something To Look Forward To
Some days, life can feel super repetitive and even boring. You go to work, you come home, you eat, you do chores, you sleep. But while life happens in the routines, reading can give you something to look forward to each day!
Had a long day at work? Well, at least you get to read tonight (or on your lunch break!). If you’re engrossed in a good story, you always have something to look forward to and a reason to be excited about your life.
33. Reading Can Make You Happier
Lastly, when all the benefits of reading are taken as a whole, a pattern emerges that shows that reading can make you happier.
From reducing stress, to better knowledge of yourself and others, to improved mental and physical well-being, and more…all these benefits add up to make it likely reading will make you feel better and happier than if you don’t read.
However, there’s also the element of joy that all bookworms know well. The pleasure in itself of reading a good book. The excitement of being engrossed in an exhilarating read, and the escape from reality for a little while and into the pages of a good book.
And that is a very happy thing indeed.
So if you’re already reading, then bravo and keep on reaping those reading benefits! And if you’re not, then maybe it’s time to learn how to get interested in reading (or how to get back into reading!), discover why people like to read, and discover all the incredible benefits that come along with it!