5 incredible benefits of reading books for your brain

Literature not only feeds our thoughts, but also our neurons.

Reading is not just a great little everyday pleasure.There are now studies that show the benefits that this activity has for our brain.

There is no activity that does not leave an imprint on our nervous system, and reading is no exception. Moreover, as it is a habit that can be incorporated into our daily lives and that involves many parts of our brain, its effects can be felt quickly.

So dabbling in the world of fiction and non-fiction books not only makes us appear more cultured; it is also a way to achieve benefits that we will enjoy far beyond the public image we project.

The benefits books bring to the brain

These are some of the positive effects that reading has on our minds.but they need not be the only ones; more may be discovered in time. Science will tell.

1. It makes the brain more interconnected.

There is evidence that the habit of reading books makes various groups of neurons in the brain more and better connected to each other. This happens, at least, with the nerve cells of the left temporal lobe, which are closely related to language management.

In other words, thanks to reading, neurons in our brain tend to communicate more with each other, establishing stronger links between them. And why is this beneficial? Well, among other things, because it is known that a more interconnected brain reduces the symptoms of dementia..

This means that although the passage of time can cause many neurons to die, having created many available communication routes, our brain learns to "dodge" damaged routes by resorting to others.

2. It makes us empathize more and better

It has also been observed that reading fiction books, which have one or more protagonists, makes the neurons of the motor sensory area of the central sulcus communicate better, which is linked to a better empathy.This is linked to a greater ability to put oneself in other people's shoes. One of the most unsuspected benefits of reading.

Somehow, reading books makes us feel identified with what the characters do, and we can imagine ourselves doing what they do. This fact makes reading become an empathy enhancer.

3. Helps to overcome stress

There is evidence that reading on a regular basis allows us to introduce a small oasis of peace into our lives, a few moments of calm in which we experience sensations similar to those produced by meditation.

In fact, there is reason to believe that, in terms of its stress-reducing power, reading is even more effective than going for a walk or listening to music.. An interesting conclusion that encourages us to disconnect with the classic pleasure of reading.

4. It allows us to sleep better

Assuming reading as a bedtime ritual can make it easier to fall asleep and, consequently, our brain has better health and time to repair itself.

What explains this is that reading fiction is a way of disconnecting from our daily worries, and that means it allows our brainsand that means that it allows our attention to disengage from obligations, problems with work, etc.

Reading is, in short, a good way to stop rumination, and makes us more able to avoid falling all the time in those thoughts that put us on alert. This makes it less likely that our brain is active in trying to find solutions to what worries us, something that theoretically sounds good but in practice does not let us sleep, making us increasingly tired and have greater difficulty maintaining concentration.

5. Books help us to exercise our memory

Regular reading of poetry has been shown to have an effect on our ability to remember elements, something that also happens with music. The key is that helps us to link information with a certain type of emotional state generated by reading the verses, and that allows us to remember better.and this allows us to remember better.

That is, emotions act as cues that lead us to certain kinds of memories associated with them, something that is closely related to the discoveries about memory made a few decades ago by psychologist Gordon Bower.

Bibliographical references:

• Rayner, K.: "Eye movements in reading and information processing: 20 years of research." Psychological Bulletin.
• The Wall Street Journal: Bibliotherapy: Reading Your Way To Mental Health.