WHY IS READING IMPORTANT? 10 BENEFITS OF READING - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

Reading is one of the most positive activities we can do. The benefits of reading include improving writing and strengthening relationships. In childhood, a good reading education -oriented to create the habit and taste for this activity, rather than treating it as a mechanical exercise- can prevent difficulties in the intellectual and attitudinal development of people.

It is evident that reading is necessary for everyday life. A high percentage of the information we receive on a daily basis is communicated to us in writing. We must read to study, do our own and many other activities that we do regularly, for immediate practical purposes.

Reading practice can bring benefits ranging from motor to psychological. Source: pixabay.com

However, most people miss out on this unique linguistic ability of the human race, which consists of decoding symbols from the language norms recognized by the cultural community to which we belong.

The potential of reading ability is wasted to the extent that social groups ignore its benefits and are not dedicated to generating educational models (be they family, school, recreational or otherwise) that optimize the development of reading habits in new generations.

Many people do not like to read, they find it boring and see it as a waste of time. It is common for readers to be stigmatized as "pedantic" or "asocial." These prejudices are far from reality, since it is proven that reading is a very beneficial activity for human development.

The 10 most important benefits of reading

1- Reinforcement of memory and attention

Good reading habits help improve attention and facilitate learning processes. They even prevent addiction to technological devices, considered the great distractors of the 21st century.

Constantly practicing reading requires that the person make an effort to process and retain the information acquired in the brain, and thus be able to use it later or connect it with future readings.

Such is the benefit of reading for the brain and memory that it is scientifically proven that its constant exercise prevents neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's.

2- Development of cognitive abilities

Reading allows the individual to develop a series of skills that improve their ability to know and understand the world around them.

Reading informative, educational, essay and even recreational or fictional texts (literature) helps to understand the meaning of cause and effect relationships that we see in real life.

Reading also enhances reasoning skills and stimulates critical thinking, thus empowering the individual to be more aware of the events that happen in their environment and to make more responsible and coherent personal decisions.

Reading allows you to know your own and other people's historical contexts from the stories of other people who know those contexts. In this way, the cultural panorama is broadened and the spatio-temporal location of the individual is improved.

In addition, the broad cultural knowledge that reading provides stimulates imagination and creativity, which allows individuals to generate original products and projects.

3- Language development

Undoubtedly, reading is essential to strengthen language skills. Reading allows you to expand your vocabulary, which implies a more detailed and complex knowledge of the world, as indicated by the Austrian-born philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) with his famous phrase: “The limits of my language are the limits of my world. ”.

Language is the vehicle of thought. The human being thinks in words, and it is through these that he subjectively organizes all the information received from the outside world. For this reason, the way in which a person understands, organizes and constructs her reality depends to a great extent on the vocabulary she possesses.

The number of words that a person knows is practically equal to the totality of things that he knows. There is no understanding without language. Therefore, reading is an ideal way to expand our knowledge of the world and learn to organize it according to the logic of the language.

4- Psychomotor development

Although it may seem strange, reading is not only positive for intellectual development, but also for improving psychomotor skills.

The exercise of turning the pages and looking linearly following the letters, activates the neural mechanisms that control fine motor skills.

5- Affective development

Literary texts allow the reader to live in an imaginary existential situations totally alien to their own, through the stories of the characters or the lyrical exclamations of the poets. In this way, the person's capacity for empathy is developed, since reading allows them to put themselves in the place of the other.

In a very special way, poetry allows the reader to open up to a different and much more awakened form of sensitivity, since poetic language reveals the emotional connotations that real events hide and how individuals construct their affective subjectivity.

Discovering that a verse or phrase moves us or makes us feel identified is an epiphany of self-knowledge. Through the words of an author, the deepest aspects of being can be recognized; in turn, this recognition implies a sublimation, a spiritual and psychologically healing catharsis.

6- moral development

Especially at an early age, the didactic potential of reading can be oriented in a moral sense.

The book is an ideal object to transmit teachings. Comprehensive reading is also an ethical exercise that opens the doors to the knowledge of the difference between good and evil.

Books can put the reader in situations where human dignity is at stake, thus forcing him to reflect on those issues that determine the conditions of social coexistence, the foundations of civilization.

For this reason, since ancient times, writing has been used to instruct society in respecting those values ​​that, depending on the time and place, are considered necessary to maintain stability or make a people progress.

7- Strengthening personal relationships

The shared readings serve to strengthen the affective bonds between people. Sharing a text with someone is establishing a bridge with her. Discussing the impressions that reading has caused us is a stimulating activity that helps us to know the other in a deeper way.

It's hard to forget someone who gave us a book. For lovers of reading, this can be one of the most significant gestures of affection there can be.

Reading also helps family relationships. People who were encouraged to read from childhood treasure the memories of those moments shared with whoever instilled the habit in them. Reading by parents to children before bedtime or having a grandmother recite poems to grandchildren are acts that strengthen emotional ties.

9- Strengthening of academic and work training

Reading is essential in any academic training process. It is very difficult to have an optimal performance as a student in any institution if the knowledge acquired in class is not complemented by study and research in books.

As a student or professional reads a greater number of specialized sources, the knowledge in their area of ​​work interest will be broader and deeper and, therefore, they will have better training that will reinforce their skills.

Eventually, the knowledge acquired through the readings will allow improvements in work practice. The path of success often intersects with the path of reading; this is clearly explained by the saying that states: "knowledge is power."

9- Entertainment

Although many do not share this taste, reading is undoubtedly one of the oldest and most popular entertainment methods on the planet.

Reading does not have to be taken as a serious and heavy activity all the time. In fact, most readers treat this practice as a relaxation exercise. The moment of reading allows the reader to distance himself from the daily worries to be able to concentrate on a linguistic artifact that gives him pleasure.

Although it is often thought that reading can only be entertainment for certain types of people (the "intellectuals"), the truth is that there are an infinity of types of texts that can adapt to the tastes of anyone, have the temperament and the intellectual level whatever.

For this reason, there is a large book industry that is based on the sale of entertainment works, such as novels by Dan Brown, Agatha Cristie or JK Rowling, which are consumed by millions of people in their leisure time.

As an object of entertainment, the book has the advantage of being accessible, since the user does not need to travel anywhere to experience a moment of intense emotions.

10- Improve writing

The first requirement to be a great writer is to be a great reader. The best way to learn is by example; Therefore, if you have poor reading training - that is, little has been read - it is natural that you write poorly, since there are no references on the proper use of written language.

A trained reader is able to recognize, assimilate, and imitate the expression techniques of professional writers. For this reason, reading copiously is necessary for those who wish to improve their writing skills.

References

1. "Reading prevents the onset of Alzheimer's disease" (April 26, 2013) from We Are Patients. Retrieved on May 27 from We Are Patients: somospacientes.com
2. "Reading and Memorization" (no date). Barcelona: Ocean Group.
3. Bouhedjam, D. “Importance of Reading Activity in Education” (December 22, 2015) from Research Gate. Retrieved on May 27, 2019 from Research Gate: researchgate.net
4. Lasso Tiscanero, R. "Importance of reading" (no date) from the Autonomous University of Ciudad Juárez. Retrieved on May 27, 2019 from the Autonomous University of Ciudad Juárez: uacj.mx
5. Reni, G. "Read to Grow" (June 24, 2018) by Estampas. Retrieved on May 27, 2019 from Estampas: stamps.com