These 3 Health Benefits of Reading Will Have You Reaching for a Book
Experts share these science-backed benefits of reading.
Print books remain surprisingly popular, even though some had predicted that the book would be dead by now. In fact, 65% of adult Americans say that they’ve read at least one print book in the last year, while 28% have read at least one ebook in the same time span.
The total percentage of Americans who read at least one book a year — in any format — is 73%, down from 79% in 2011. This means that over a quarter of adults may be missing out on the extensive health benefits of reading, while those who do read may not be reading enough.
Here are three of the top benefits associated with reading:
Reading Fiction Boosts Empathy
Theory of mind refers to the ability to recognize and identify with the feelings, thoughts, and intentions of another. “It is an indispensable ability for meaningful social interaction,” wrote Joaquín M. Fuster in The Prefrontal Cortex. The ability to be empathetic — to intimately understand what it would feel like to be in another’s shoes — requires theory of mind. And having a high level of empathy fosters healthy, satisfying relationships.
