How Reading Improves Your Health

While fiction may be gaining popularity, the genre's importance and relevance is often downplayed and considered to be lacking in substance. However, reading fiction actually helps the brain in three invaluable ways nonfiction does not.

Increases Imagination

Fiction heightens your sense of imagination to make you feel as thought you're a part of the world the author has created. This is important because it stimulates creativity that can be utilized in real life situations for problem solving.

Increases Empathy

By using your imagination to bring the story to life, you're able to form a bond with the characters. An article from Psychology Today, titled "Reading Fiction Improves Brain Connectivity and Function", explains reading fiction on a regular basis strengthens peoples ability to empathize with one another and better understand each others perspectives.

Reduces Stress

Perhaps one of the most valued aspects of fiction is its ability to give you an opportunity to escape reality. You can momentarily forget about your own problems and instead live vicariously through different characters and unique experiences. As a result, reading fiction serves as an excellent stress reliever. According to the National Reading Campaign, spending as little as six minutes reading can significantly calm the body by relaxing muscles, lowering heart rates, and changing a person's state of mind. These measures have the potential to reduce stress levels by up to sixty percent making reading more effective than other forms of relaxation such as listening to music, playing video games, or going for walks.