How Does Reading Affect Your Brain
Let me explain the WHY part.
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How did I fall in love with reading?
Repository of knowledge?
My physique vs. reading
The left temporal lobe, memory improved?
Whenever you read a book or have a conversation, the experience causes physical changes in your brain.— George Johnson
I love reading.
I fell in love at a time I don't even remember.
I grew up in a small, remote village where most people were farmers, and 99% of the farmers never went to school.
My father somehow did some schooling and joined the police force in the early 1980s. At that time, it was pretty easy to join the police. All you needed was a good height and basic reading/writing skills. I was lucky that he used to read a lot, pretty much all the time.
My father loved fiction. However, he never encouraged me to read what he used to read, but always encouraged me to read textbooks.
I remember he always gives me a reward when he sees a book in my hands.
Being a sneaky kid with a curious personality, sometimes, I kept his novel inside a textbook to enjoy the taste of a story. Fiction has the power to take you anywhere, and if the writer is good at storytelling, you feel like you are one of the characters.
The second most important reason I learned at a very early age to fall in love with reading is my physical structure.
Yes, you are right, my physique.
I used to be skinny and tall at a very young age.
As you may know, farming in underdeveloped countries is a physically demanding job. Therefore, in the early stages, I forced myself to study.
To study more, you must read more.
I used reading as an escape from a physically demanding job. I felt it was way easier to study and get good marks than to sweat at 45 Celsius in the fields.
The rest is history. Now, I have a flexible budget to buy books.
In fact, I have more books than I have read in my lifespan. I keep buying books; in the beginning, I had a $1000 annual budget to purchase books, but now I don't even count. I am building a home library.
Currently, I am completing at least one book per week, excluding weekends; that's more than 52 books a year or, in 40 years, roughly 2100 books at the same pace. Therefore, the idea of building a home library is not a waste of money.
By the way, if anyone wants me to donate books, please contact me.
Here is my basic definition of home library.
If you have more than 1000 books, you have a home library.
I used to think that buying a book and not reading it was a waste of time.
I don't believe that way anymore; now I buy books if I like the author, book title, and especially the topic if I am working on the subject.
You know learning should not stop. I truly believe continuous learning is the only way to grow.
Anyway, that's enough background on how I fell in love with reading. It's time to explore and justify the title—how reading has the power to affect our brains.
Our brain is an extraordinary computer with 86 billion neurons and 85 billion non-neural cells.
Last week's newsletter
8 Brain-Damaging Habits to Quit, Brain Limits, & More
Neurons are the fundamental unit of our nervous system, which controls everything we do: breathe, walk, feel, and think.
Research shows that reading has the power to rewire your brain, create new neural pathways, and strengthen the white matter in the corpus callosum.
It is an important pathway to communication between the two hemispheres.
It's so instinctive that before we began reading, we looked at all the shapes and patterns on the page.
After that, the back of the brain receives these images and processes them the same way.
They proceed to the temporal lobe next.
What is the temporal lobe?
The temporal lobes sit behind the ears and are the second largest lobe. They are most commonly associated with processing auditory information and with the encoding of memory. — Queensland Government
The brain's letterbox, in particular, is where the black things are first identified as letters in a word.
Information from the letterbox then travels to the frontal lobe and other regions of the temporal lobe, where we determine the actual meaning and pronunciation of the word in an experienced reader.
This entire process takes less than half a second.
I know what you're thinking, though:
Why does this happen?
Research shows those who read 20 pages of a book every night have increased activity in the left temporal lobe, where memory is located in the morning.
Recently, I read that Elon Musk prefers to read 3 hours before bedtime; now we can see how he is accumulating knowledge and also improving memory.
Reading has also been associated in some studies with lower risks of dementia and emotional regulation, which may help to explain why many people find that reading.
This means that in order to get the maximum benefits, you must develop a habit, which is what I've been attempting to do by doing 30+ days of challenges; as a result, I've figured out how it operates and have a basic understanding of it.
To start with, I've been reading the everyday nonfiction material Stoic on my Kindle each morning.
It's a quick read — four pages take less than 10 minutes — but it's a great start.
My goal was to trick my brain into believing that since I've already read something today, I might as well read a little bit more. So far, it's working.
Since this tiny experiment, I prefer to read instead of going on social media.
If a book is good, I always feel motivated to try putting what I've learned into practice, but after a few weeks, I still need to remember everything the book taught me.
This is where the Kindle helps a lot.
It comes in handy for me to mark passages that have struck my brain and save them for later reference.
I attempted to reduce them into a concept page, but this was too much extra work, and I didn't really stick to it.
However, I put a reminder to see the highlights each Sunday for 30 minutes from the book I was reading.
Over the last few weeks, reading has helped me create a perpetual cycle where I'll read a book, highlight the best parts, and then repeat each Sunday.
It encourages me to read more!
Reading is essential for those who seek to rise above the ordinary. — Jim Rohn
I also developed the habit of placing books throughout the home, especially next to the bedroom side tables. It helps me read before going to bed.
I've told myself this doesn't have to be for hours; it could just be a few pages, but at least read something.
This habit has actually been difficult for me to maintain when I'm tired and can't be bothered, so on some days, I've given myself a break, but on most days, I've been sticking to it, and it's been working.
The bottom line
Reading is important because if you can read, you can learn anything about everything and everything about anything. - Tomie dePaola
Start small, create a repository of your knowledge, read it, and schedule reading sessions, as I do each Sunday.
I just launched my website, where I will share my book reviews. It will also help me recall the book, especially the main points, and share it with my readers.
Here are some brain reasons to make reading a habit.
It helps to strengthen your brain.
Reading promotes neuroplasticity by fostering the formation of new synaptic connections.
It reduces your stress.
It expands your knowledge.
It helps to improve your memory.
It improves your concentration.
It improves your communication skills.
It improves your mental health.
In short, reading is a habit that can improve memory, reduce stress, and help develop new neural pathways.
How can you develop a reading habit?
Set tiny reading goals
Read every day at the same time at the same place, even for one minute
Read on a digital device or a physical book (highly recommended).
Google to find out what successful people are reading. Start reading what they are reading.
Question yourself why they are reading certain books.
Disclaimer: My posts do not include professional or health advice. Instead, I document my reviews, observations, experiments, and perspectives to inform and inspire awareness.
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Reading is such a wonderful hobby and habit. Thank you for this uplifting read.