Reading: it might be a love-hate relationship, but luckily for me, I fell in love with it at a young age. Here are my top five reasons why I love reading and how it can help others.

As soon as I first heard any story I would beg for more to be read to me. So it was a relief for my mum when I finally learned to read for myself.

I’ve always found reading to have so many benefits and I’m here to try and convince those who may not enjoy it as much.

1. Relieves anxiety

I’ve found that reading can help relieve anxiety. Whenever I feel anxious or stressed, I like to pick up a book or even read a social media post. It helps distract me from whatever I’m thinking about.

2. Helps you sleep

As someone who has had trouble with sleep, I can tell you from experience reading has done a great deal to help me!

Having a bath and getting into bed early with a good book (and limiting myself to a chapter or two a night) significantly improved my sleep patterns. It stopped me overthinking so I could fall off quicker and into a deeper sleep, helping me feel much more refreshed the next day.

3. Helps with your schoolwork

For me, reading has massively increased my vocabulary, which allows me to write much more freely and reach higher grades in essays or school projects. As well as this it can also help you with gaining and retaining information without having to read multiple textbooks.

4. Improves your memory

It may not seem like it, but remembering simple plot lines can activate neurological pathways in your brain, which can overall improve memory and keep the brain healthy!

5. Improves motivation

Reading can easily motivate people to do things when they read about a character doing them. You may have been putting off that certain task or shying away from doing something, but when you see your favourite character doing it, you feel you can too.

You may have helped your brain just by reading this short and simple article without even realising it! I hope if you are a reading hater this article inspires you to find just a short book or article to start and if you are a reading lover I hope this article inspired you to go back and find where you left off!

Let’s hear from you

If you have reasons why you love (or hate) reading, please share them in the comments below. Let us know if you enjoyed reading this or if you have any book recommendations of your own.

And if you’d like to get your own article published on the site, simply submit it to: editor@youthsight.com and you could be in with the chance of winning £50 cash prize.

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