The Magic Words They can take you anywhere in the universe in moments, spiriting you away from the stress and problems of everyday life. They connect people, provide insight, and teach new ways of thinking, thrusting you into a state of euphoria as they do. They even fight disease. This description might bring to mind some amazing new medicine, some exciting new technology, or even some magical spell, but in reality these wonderful miracles have been around for thousands of years, and you have used them. Stories are the magical spells, the written word the exciting technology, and reading the panacea to cure our ills. For me, reading is the ultimate escape. Diving into a good book is so immersive that the rest of life seems to disappear.
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Stress is considered by most experts to be a major cause of insomnia, and because of it 's potent calming effect, reading before bed is a commonly recommended treatment. According to webMD.com, insufficient sleep factors into increased risk for many health problems, including heart disease, diabetes, and chronic pain. On the mental side of things, reading may help to combat the onset of Alzheimers disease, slow cognitive decline in the elderly, and improve average mood. Self help books have even been shown to help treat clinical depression. Beyond just preventing and treating disease, my favorite escape can actually improve your existing …show more content…
According to research done at the University of California, Berkeley, “Children 's books expose kids to 50 percent more words than prime time TV, or even a conversation between college graduates.” This early advantage leads to heightened critical thinking ability, as well as higher scores on reading tests and tests of general intelligence. More advanced reading, especially in the fiction genre, was linked to increased empathy in an article published in “Science” magazine. Because these stories often focus heavily on the characters ' thought processes and reasoning, regular readers develop a keener sense for motive, and a more accepting and understanding attitude towards different points of view, even those that oppose their own. All stories, but especially the mystery genre, force the reader to constantly analyze the details that are fed to them, to think critically, and to form their own theories, straining and building their own problem solving abilities. Finally the most obvious benefit is the acquisition of general knowledge. Even the most fantastic works of literature are inevitably littered with facts, vocabulary, and ideas that you would most likely never learn without reading them. I firmly believe that I have learned more from reading, just for enjoyment, than I will ever learn from any type of formal
Stress is considered by most experts to be a major cause of insomnia, and because of it 's potent calming effect, reading before bed is a commonly recommended treatment. According to webMD.com, insufficient sleep factors into increased risk for many health problems, including heart disease, diabetes, and chronic pain. On the mental side of things, reading may help to combat the onset of Alzheimers disease, slow cognitive decline in the elderly, and improve average mood. Self help books have even been shown to help treat clinical depression. Beyond just preventing and treating disease, my favorite escape can actually improve your existing …show more content…
According to research done at the University of California, Berkeley, “Children 's books expose kids to 50 percent more words than prime time TV, or even a conversation between college graduates.” This early advantage leads to heightened critical thinking ability, as well as higher scores on reading tests and tests of general intelligence. More advanced reading, especially in the fiction genre, was linked to increased empathy in an article published in “Science” magazine. Because these stories often focus heavily on the characters ' thought processes and reasoning, regular readers develop a keener sense for motive, and a more accepting and understanding attitude towards different points of view, even those that oppose their own. All stories, but especially the mystery genre, force the reader to constantly analyze the details that are fed to them, to think critically, and to form their own theories, straining and building their own problem solving abilities. Finally the most obvious benefit is the acquisition of general knowledge. Even the most fantastic works of literature are inevitably littered with facts, vocabulary, and ideas that you would most likely never learn without reading them. I firmly believe that I have learned more from reading, just for enjoyment, than I will ever learn from any type of formal