Anything that you’d like to develop requires a little elbow grease. If you’d like to improve your putting game, you go to the practice green and you hone your skill. If you’d like to bench press more in the gym, you focus on strengthening your chest muscles to improve in that area. In essence, the brain is no different. The human brain needs stimulus to nurture and grow just as any other muscle or skill set. Thankfully, it’s extremely easy to give the human brain a good workout; simply grab a book!
As a whole, reading’s importance on the brain’s development is immense. In fact, more than any other medium, reading requires the brain to utilize three distinct neurological components: intelligence, imagery, and concentration. For example, as you’re reading a book, your intelligence is being utilized to decode words and comprehend what is written. While on this literary journey, your imagination creates images in your mind of characters, settings, and other literary elements. Finally, your brain is requiring you to concentrate on what’s written on the the page. As the reader, you must block out external disturbances and stay within the realm of the book.
From an intelligence perspective, there is no greater skill to develop than the ability to read independently. Reading’s importance on memory retention, increased vocabulary, and improving one’s capacity to learn should not be taken lightly. Think of it in a relational sense. Words create meaning; meaning creates ideas; ideas transform into action. It’s these actions that the reader takes into the world to teach, entertain, invent, etc.
Without doubt, reading is one of the greatest exercises you can offer your body. However, unlike a strenuous gym workout, reading can offer the mind and body a method of relaxation. The human brain’s ability to focus on the text at hand, and transfer the reader to an entirely different location is unparalleled. This unique ability has been known to help the following:
- addicts recover from addiction
- children/adults with ADD improve focusing ability
- slow the onset of brain disease
Overall, giving yourself the gift of reading is arguably one of the greatest decisions you can make for a sound and healthy mind. For more information on reading’s importance, please visit eyeQ; or if you have any questions, please feel free to send eyeQ your thoughts. So don’t wait; treat yourself to a book, magazine, ebook, newspaper, etc. Let the literary world relax your body and soul, while the brain get’s its daily workout!
