Why Reading Matters

Did you know your brain needs a workout just as much as your body? I’ve always known the importance of physical exercise as running and peloton are my outlets, but Rita Carter brought this to life through the work she’s doing studying the importance of not only reading, but reading fiction.

When doing a brain scan of individuals in a test study group who read 30 minutes/night for two months, the brain showed patterns as if the individuals LIVED the events and experiences they were reading about and became a permanent part of the infrastructure of their brain. How cool is that! Every time you read it’s a new experience that develops new pathways, and each pathway accesses many different connections throughout the brain to make sense of what you’re reading. It forces you to use parts of the brain that you typically don’t use which ultimately drives creativity, empathy, and problem-solving abilities. For me, this became apparent in Alison Levine’s book called On the Edge, a masterpiece in transporting you to places like Mount Everest and Antarctica. One of my favorite books.

Starting this year, I’m rotating fiction and non-fiction books throughout the year so I can travel in the shoes of an astronaut, a police detective, a lawyer, or a beekeeper because one can never tell when such a perspective will come in handy. Now I just need to find my reading glasses and I’ll be ready to go.

Here is the YouTube video if you want to check it out: https://youtube.com/watch?v=muuWRKYi09s&si=hRZz_c_AK-5SOWjm