We are what we read
Reading is a part of the comprehensive development of human beings and it becomes a learning habit that we adopt in childhood because of its multiple benefits for brain development and mental health.
When we are young, one of the first things we learn is reading and writing, establishing a first contact through illustrations. This type of reading helps children to develop their imagination and to learn about the world around them. It also improves their vocabulary and concentration time, as well as accelerating the process of communicative management to learn to express their ideas and feelings. But, what makes all this possible?
The human brain does not initially have a specific area dedicated to reading. In fact, what we know today as reading emerged some six thousand years ago, a long time after the brain had already fulfilled other basic intellectual functions. Therefore, reading is not something the brain is genetically “designed” for, but it is designed to adapt and restructure itself to new situations through neuroplasticity. According to the study La lectura desde la neurociencia, written by Dr. David Ezpeleta Echávarri, this ability allows neurons to read letters and words, and over time to automatize these actions, building the basis of reading. As the document explains, the brain mechanism that is set in motion when reading is as follows: “[It] activates, first, the visual cortex to process information consisting of symbols, which are recognised in certain areas of the brain as letters, other areas of the brain put these letters together and recognise them as sets that constitute words and then contact with other areas that provide meaning to these words and groups of words in order to activate the language areas and generate understanding”. Furthermore, neuroplasticity is not only limited to childhood, but also plays an important role at different stages of life cycle, so that the process of learning to read is long and it does not end once we have learned to read.
It is often said that “reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body”, and the truth is that reading enriches, trains and exercises it directly as if it was a muscle. While reading, we force our brain to think, order ideas, interrelate concepts and use our memory and imagination, improving our intellectual capacity. Among other benefits, reading for just six minutes can reduce heart rate, and it is an effective way to reduce stress in everyday situations and combat insomnia. In addition, reading fiction can increase functional connectivity between areas of the brain involved in emotional processing, improving empathy skills and interpersonal relationships.
Read to live longer
A key benefit that should encourage us to introduce reading into our daily habits is its direct relationship with cognitive reserve. All culture-related knowledge (thinking, listening to music, reading...) has a brain impact that affects changes in cortical connectivity and the structures that connect them, directly increasing our cognitive reserve. This reserve is a concept that is tied to the quantity and quality of those connectivities that we create over the years, and is the main tool that the brain will use in its struggle against time and cognitive decline. If a person is genetically predisposed to suffer from a degenerative disease, cognitive reserve can slow down the appearance of the first symptoms, even to the point where the individual dies before they appear. The importance of reading in supporting this process is essential, especially in stimulating certain areas of the brain in adulthood. Daily reading can improve, for example, verbal memory and concentration, two elements of great importance in age-related cognitive decline.
On the other hand, many people lose the habit of reading as they get older, mainly because they lose their visual capacity, which makes it difficult for them to carry out this activity. A study by the National Library of Medicine, however, states that the brain has a better ability to concentrate if it has to decipher words and figures that it does not perceive so clearly, so that the intellectual exercise is actually greater and even more beneficial as it involves a greater effort.
4 keys to cultivate a reading habit
According to the British Psychological Society (BPS), a habit takes about 59 days to become automatic, i.e. an average of 2 months. To achieve this, BPS states that implementing routine and time-based signals increases the chances of integrating the habit more effectively into everyday life. Some recommendations for cultivating the habit of reading include: :
•Replace screen time with reading time, especially on mobile devices, which represents an average of 3 hours and 43 minutes.
•Start with fast-paced and easy-to-understand novels, and stop reading without fear if you are not enjoying it.
•Set a regular reading frequency. According to the most recent studies, a couple of minutes a day is enough to generate significant brain activity.
•Create reading goals, whether by time, pages or number of books. According to statistics, fifteen minutes a day can read an average of a thousand books in a lifetime.
