What Is Reading Good For?

Reading is an activity that is taught to us from a very young age and accompanies us throughout our lives. However, it is not a natural activity in humans, but something that we develop over time.

Reading is considered a fundamental element in the creation of civilization and in its current social and cultural development. The society you read will be more democratic, free, receptive and productive.

In addition, reading is a good exercise for the human being that brings great benefits. It develops the brain and its analytical abilities, improves speech and its fluency, improves communication with other people, develops empathy, increases concentration, prevents Alzheimer’s, dementia and other cerebrovascular diseases.

What are the benefits of reading?

Reading carries many advantages, from the social and cultural, to the individual. In the social sphere, we can mention that reading has historically influenced the development of civilization. From hieroglyphs to the first pages of the press, the transmission of information has provided the basis for the progress of society.

A literate and cultured population, as many experts affirm, will be more difficult to deceive, therefore it will reach high levels of democracy and freedom, empathy and solidarity.

When it comes to the individual, reading has many more benefits. This is because this activity is not something natural for the human body, but we have adapted to it.

However, this change is not bad because it makes our brain develop rapidly and create new neural connections that could not exist before. This gives us great benefits:

Importance of reading for the brain

It is well known that reading is nourishing the brain; is exercising it to keep it fit. As we mentioned, we have adapted to this activity and this change has brought us many advantages.

When we read, our brain plunges into deep concentration as it deciphers what the text says, and in turn, interprets the meaning of the text. The left hemisphere of the brain works at a high speed to process and send information to other areas. Readers have been shown to have more gray matter and more neurons.

This concentration on reading would have been detrimental to our primitive ancestors, since they could not afford to waste hunting time or not be alert to predators. However, today it is considered very beneficial, since reading makes us concentrate on a single task and our brain does not wander.

Specialists compare this activity with some types of meditation that help to maintain concentration, slow down the mind and make us feel calmer.

Other benefits for the brain is that it feeds the imagination, since when reading, our brain creates images that go along with the text. It is also a method that can prevent neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s or dementia.

What is the importance of reading?

Reading is now believed to be time-consuming and unprofitable, but reading has been proven to create more successful people. Frequent readers improve their vocabulary and speaking skills. Both qualities are highly valued in the world of work, as they are associated with leadership, intelligence, and insight.

Scientific studies have shown that young people who read the most in their childhood for pleasure had a higher percentage of success in their professions, percentages that were not compared to other activities such as sports or watching movies.

It is not surprising, then, that many celebrities, writers, scientists, entrepreneurs and business owners, affirm that they constantly read for pleasure and that this activity has offered them new ways of acting, working and knowing. From celebrities like Steve Jobs to Stephen King, they have made public which books have inspired them throughout their lives and highly recommend this activity.

Types of reading

Although reading is something that we already do frequently, naturally and effortlessly, not all readings are the same. The concentration that we give to this will not always be the same, since sometimes we do a recognition reading, where we do not deepen its meaning, but other times we will seek to analyze the text in depth. Each type of reading, therefore, will serve a specific purpose.

Critical reading

This is based on deeply reading the text, and after understanding it, we will seek to analyze its meaning, its errors, characteristics, similarities, etc.

Critical reading is widely used in academia, as it allows students to understand the topics to be discussed and apprehend them. It usually takes a longer amount of time, but as a result you will gain more knowledge and your own opinion on the subject.

Comprehensive reading

Comprehensive reading is assimilated to critical reading. It seeks to understand a topic in greater depth to improve the knowledge that one has about it.

However, we could say that it does not reach the same level of critical reading, since we do not stop to analyze each feature of the text, we simply seek to understand it. This is also widely used in academia, especially at the primary and secondary levels.

Paratext reading

The word paratext refers to a set of titles and elements that make up a literary work. Such as the title, subtitles, index, preface, appendix, etc. It is usually divided into two, the author and the edition. The author will consist of the title, preface, dedication, notes, epilogue, etc .; while the edition will be elements such as the cover, copyright, catalog, publications, etc.

However, there are works that last over time and mean that these elements must be constantly modified, especially those that go hand in hand with editing. It is for this reason that paratext is very important. It will provide the reader with a guide to better understand the work. It will give you data that will place you in a specific situation and that will give you relevant information to compare the work with others.

Recreational reading

Recreational reading is one that is not intended for knowledge, learning, or music. It is the one that is used, as its name indicates, to distract us. This reading is the most used and it is the one that involves stories, novels, fables, stories and others. Although it may be the most discredited reading by some, it is the reading that gives the most value. It has been proven that people who prefer to read novels are more empathetic people, since they are more receptive and open to other lives.

These studies also indicate that the development of this empathy goes hand in hand with an improvement in people’s sociability. Those who read stories are better suited to different groups and have better communication and social skills.

Musical reading

The language of music, like lyrics, is a universal language. In fact, it could be said that it is more universal than words, since it is not divided into different languages, accents and lexicons.

The musical reading is the one that is made of the staves. Help musicians understand the work and see its nuances. It is a complex activity that, like traditional reading, takes a long time to learn. However, once you have a lot of practice, it becomes natural that you can quickly understand.