This week my twelve year old daughter put together a neighborhood mini library.
She got the approval of the Home Owners Association.
Found the right spot for the library.
Solicited book donations and had a launch party.
It was awesome watching all the neighborhood kids grabbing books and sitting and reading together.
I am a big fan of reading. I know that as an author that sounds trite, but reading has allowed me to continue to grow and learn.
There are some cliché sayings thrown around like: Leaders are Readers and Earners are Learners.
But these clichés certainly have merit.
Here are some of the benefits of reading:
1.According to Bite Size Bio, reading for one hour a day about your profession for seven years makes you an international expert in your field. Not only does this take a lot of discipline, but very few colleagues are likely to read even half of that amount.
- Reading, along with completing puzzles and playing chess, may lead to you being 2.5 times less likely to develop Alzheimer’s, according to PNAS
- Sussex University conducted a study in 2009 and the results show that reading can reduce stress by up to 68%.
- Just like going for a jog exercises your cardiovascular system, reading regularly improves memory function by giving your brain a good work out according to research published in Neurology.
- According to Science Magazine, reading can make you a more empathetic person because, with fiction in particular, books help their readers understand what others are thinking by reading other people’s emotions.
- Reading can increase your life span – according to a University of Michigan study people who read books for as little as 30 minutes a day over several years were living an average of two years longer than people who didn’t read anything at all.
- Having an extensive vocabulary – a side effect of frequent reading – can significantly delay the manifestation of mental decline as you age according to Spain’s University of Santiago de Compostela,
- A study at Emory University found that in addition to helping your memory, reading increases brain connections leading to greater brain function in general.
- Along with the other psychological benefits listed above, reading can help you develop more tolerance for uncertainty – a huge coping skill. (University of Toledo).
- According to brain fitness expert, Jim Kwik ,the average person reads two or three books a year but the average CEO is reading four or five books per month.