Why Reading is Good for Your Health

When did you last lose yourself in a good book? I believe something rather magical happens when we get lost in a book. We not only lose ourselves within the pages, but we sometimes find a piece of ourselves too! 

In recent times, I’ve been reading around three books a week. I’ve had to reduce this slightly since I was starting to get indigestion! My husband on the other hand, doesn’t read. 

“But I don’t like reading Nikki!” He says. My response to this is, “but that would be like me saying I don’t like amateur theatre, without having seen a single show!” (My husband directs a lot of amateur theatre). He saw my point.

The last book he read was ‘Tarka the Otter’ at school, and he has never read a book since. But that is such a shame, since I don’t feel he has given it a fair chance. How can we decide if we truly like something or not if we haven’t fully explored it?

It seems he is not the only one to resist reading though. 

Reading is on the decline

Sadly, reading is on the decline and has been for the last two decades. It’s easy to understand why, with the introduction of internet and the distractions that this creates. I remember (many moons ago), having to look up every piece of information/research for my homework within the covers of books when I was a teenager. 

My family owned a beautiful set of Encyclopaedia Britannica – beautiful black and burgundy leather-bound books – which served for every piece of information I needed to find. There were, of course, libraries too. But in today’s world, things are very different. Everything is available at the click of a button; google gives us a world of information and even other people’s research.

Statistically more women read than men…

Statistics show that only 21% of British people are avid readers like me, and 53% read one book or more a year. The difference between male and female is interesting too, since 21% of men claim, they never read as opposed to only 12% of women. I need to further research the reasons for this! 

With children, sadly, it seems only 25.8% read for pleasure these days; they are more interested in gaming, social media, and suchlike.

Health Benefits

But I would like to share with you a few reasons why reading can be of huge benefit to us; why we need to encourage our children, and our grandchildren to ditch their phones and pick up a book; why we adults need to made time to read on a regular basis and not just when lying by a pool on holiday once a year.

Go and find your favourite…

So, to wrap up: from health benefits, to getting smarter, and building knowledge, I hope you have learnt a few reasons why it is of great benefit to read on a regular basis. If you are someone, like my husband, who finds reading to be boring, I implore you to try different genres. There are so many out there, from dystopian, fantasy and romance, to memoir, mystery, and thriller. 

There really is something for everyone, and the wider you read, the more likely you are to find the genre or author that will hook you. Then, you too, will find the magic that gets you hooked, and you will both lose and find yourself within the covers of a book.