Theory of Writing | Abril Delgadillo

How is reading beneficial for us in our everyday life?

Many of us think reading is boring, reading is not important, or reading is time consuming.

Reading has many benefits that some people are not aware of. Reading can help our knowledge

grow, help us see different perspectives, improve our mental health, and improve our

imagination and creativity.

Every time we read something, that text or message we retain stays in our minds. We retain

that knowledge by paying attention on what we are reading about. For example, STEM students

read many books to learn the material and put what they learn in practice and can be developed

as a skill. Also, when bakers follow a recipe for the first time, that recipe will stick in their minds

increasing their knowledge on baking. Reading to young children can help them develop

language skills and increase their vocabulary.

By reading we understand people’s emotions and understand the world around us. When we

read a novel or a fiction book, we tend to visualize the characters and at times feel what they are

feeling. If we are really into the book, we can also experience what they are experiencing. This

helps us understand emotions and empathy, as well as their point of views. We all have different

views, but at times we don’t understand them unless it is our own point of view. Reading can

help us understand and put us in different experiences and perspectives.

There are many ways reading can benefit our mental health. One of them being that it can

reduce stress. From personal experience, I can say reading does reduce stress. In 2009, a group of

researched said that reading for 30 minutes can lower blood pleasure, heart rate, and feelings of

psychological distress. Reading can also help alleviate depression. While reading, we can

temporarily escape and experience the story and plot. There have been many long-term studies
 Theory of Writing | Abril Delgadillo

saying reading can help us live longer. Also, reading can help prevent age-related cognitive

decline. Reading constantly can keep your mind engaged as grow older. If we don’t read

constantly, we may have trouble keeping our mind engaged and we might have trouble

understanding simple things as we get older.

Furthermore, reading can help us improve our predictions through context clues. For example,

in elementary school, I always had tests about what I would think what can happen next in a

story using clues. This helped me improve my imagination as I progressed through school and in

life. When we read, we tend to imagine the setting of the story through the descriptive details the

author provides. This nurtures the brain to develop new ideas and possibilities. Elon Musk was

an active reader. He read books about fiction, philosophy, programming, engineering, product

design, and business. His creativity developed by reading all those books and he is now the CEO

of Tesla Motors and is co-founder of Space X. Through using your imagination, reading makes

you more creative and innovative.

In conclusion, reading has many other benefits, but the benefit of improving our knowledge,

learn new perspectives, improve our mental, and improve our imagination and creativity, are the

most important benefits of reading because it can improve our daily life. We can start reading at

any time and would be able to get the benefits. It’s not too late to start reading.
 Theory of Writing | Abril Delgadillo

Works Cited
Awal, Abdul. “How Does Reading Help You Gain Knowledge?” Lost In Book, 6 Sept. 2021,
lostinbook.com/how-does-reading-help-you-gain-knowledge.

Stanborough, Rebecca Mfa Joy. “Benefits of Reading Books: How It Can Positively Affect Your Life.”
Healthline, 15 Oct. 2019, www.healthline.com/health/benefits-of-reading-books.

Davis, Glenn. “Why Is Reading Important?” Learn To Read, Apr. 2021, www.learn-to-read-prince-
george.com/why-is-reading-important.html.

“The Benefits of Reading | Ella Lee | TEDxYouth@MBJH.” YouTube, uploaded by TedTalk, 12 May 2021,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEpWYkUCL44&t=159s.

Read, Why. “Imagination And Why Reading Makes You More Creative.” WhyToRead.Com, 10 Apr. 2020,
whytoread.com/imagination-why-reading-makes-you-more-creative.