March is National Reading Month, inspired by the birthday of Dr. Seuss on March 2. In honor of an entire month dedicated to one of my favorite pastimes, let’s delve into the reasons reading is beneficial and how we can foster a love of reading in others.
Benefits of Reading
- Reading Expands Your Vocabulary – The best way to learn new words is to read them or hear them in conversation. Studies have shown the correlation between reading and increased vocabulary. Not only will you learn new words, but you’ll learn how to use words correctly. Relying on a dictionary for definitions ensures understanding of meaning and helps you know when to insert that word into a conversation or written work.
- . Reading is Exercise for Your Brain – Reading does for your brain what vitamins do for your body: It strengthens it. Reading turns your brain into a detective, helping you think critically, solve problems, analyze behavior and motivations, draw conclusions and formulate questions.
- Reading Enhances Communication Skills – Whether it’s oral or written communication, the more you read, the better your ability to communicate. If you want to be a better writer, or a better speaker, try reading more. And it’s not just a small benefit either. Research has shown the improvement is exponential. Over time, you will begin to feel confidence in your prose.
- Reading Bolsters Memory – Fictional stories are crafted with beginning, middle and end and you must remember through imagery the order of events in the story. If you skip parts of the story, the connections won’t be there for it to make sense, like you’ve hit a pothole in a road. Research has shown that levels of cognitive decline are lower in those who read regularly.
- Reading Equals Better Sleep – Reading helps your mind and body relax leading to improved sleep. It’s much better to read a physical book at bedtime than reading from a screen. The blue light from a device can have the opposite effect of a physical book.
- Reading Increases Empathy – Empathy is the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of others. When you read, you learn to relate to the characters, thus enabling you to carry those feelings of understanding into your real life. When we take time to put ourselves in their shoes, we learn to show empathy.
- Reading Diminishes Stress – Regular readers already know this benefit! When we read, we block out our own life, problems, thoughts, whatever, and we focus on the story. It only takes six minutes of reading to reduce stress by almost seventy percent. That’s more than if you took a walk or turned on some music! So, pull out a book and let the stress float away.
- Reading Elevates Mood – Reading can provide a mental vacation, leaving us rested, refreshed, and ready to face whatever life is throwing at us. Reading can be used in treating depression, a concept called bibliotherapy.
- Reading Stimulates Imagination – As adults, the books we read are filled with text, requiring us to use our imaginations to picture the characters and the setting. The more we use our imaginations, the more it spurs our creativity in other areas of our lives.
- Reading Connects Us with Other Readers – Why else would there be book clubs or a entire Bookstagram community on Instagram? Those who enjoy reading want to share their love of books with their friends because it’s fun! The social connections we build through a hobby we love often last a lifetime.
Ways to Foster a Love of Reading in Children
First, start young. Read books aloud and let children touch and hold books. Point out pictures. Talk about the story after. Reread books often. Let children choose which book they want to hear/look at. Take them to the library and let them find the books they’d like.
As children get older, find books that relate to their interests. Dinosaurs one day, Baseball the next. The key is to show them all the exciting things that can be found in books.
When they are chapter book readers, find a series that matches their interests. This is a great way to keep them reading, with one book leading to the next to the next. Many times, children want to read books that make them laugh because it’s fun. And don’t forget that magazines, comic books and graphic novels all count as reading. Let them choose, let them read at their pace and hopefully you’ll have helped foster a love of reading for life!
