Reading Books at an Early Age gives a Massive Boost to your Personality

According to a recent research, reading during early years of life can enhance lifelong cognitive competencies.

The habit of reading has faded away greatly with the advancement in technology, which offers many alternatives of entertainment to the public. Having said that, the significance of reading is still intact as it can give a substantial boost to the personality of an individual. In addition to all the information that you can get, reading improves you mentally as well as physically in several ways. Some of these positives are described below.

Memory Improvement

In this age of information, we have a lot of information to keep track of and this is not possible without a strong memory. Reading books helps you with that as you must remember all the sub-plots of the story, an assortment of characters, and the historical background of all of them to enjoy the writing. It is a medically proven fact that every new memory creates new synapses in the brain. Hence, the more you read, the stronger your memory will become.

Improves Analytical Skills

Analytical thinking proves incredibly handy in solving our everyday problems, but it is not an easy art to master. Reading mystery books or detective novels is one of the best ways to improve your critical and analytical skills. It allows you to closely observe each and every piece of the puzzle and place it into its subsequent place.

Mental Stimulation

Medical experts found that the chances of Alzheimer’s and Dementia reduce considerably in an active brain because staying mentally stimulated prevents it from losing power. It is obvious that like any other part of the body, the brain requires regular exercise to keep it in the best shape. Therefore, the phrase ‘use it or lose it’ suits the most when it comes to your mind.  

Improves Concentration and Focus

The introduction of technology in literally every field of life has forced us to multi-task all the time. Consequently, the level of productivity falls drastically as the attention is divided into a million different directions. Reading books can help us with this universal issue because we need to concentrate on only one thing, the story of the book we are reading. This enables an individual to focus on the task at hand rather than trying too many things, simultaneously.   

Compared to non-readers, all these skills can give you a bit of a boost in your life. Talking about advantages of reading books in your early life, a recent study found that the skill set of the teens, who leave college before graduating but have a habit of reading, matches with the non-reading university graduates. Joanna Sikora, a Sociologist from the Australian National University who led the research, explained that they gathered global data and observed that the children who had a habit of reading in their early years showed a marked difference in three life skills. She said,

“We document advantageous effects of scholarly culture for adult literacy, adult numeracy, and adult technological problem-solving. Growing up with home libraries boosts adult skills in these areas beyond the benefits accrued from parental education or own educational or occupational attainment.”

From 2011 to 2015, the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) collected rigorous data of adult skills through a survey from 31 countries of the world. The researching team made use of this information which covered more than 160,000 people between the ages of 25 and 65. They were accessed based on their literacy, information communication technology skills, and numeracy. In addition to that, they were asked to estimate the number of books they had in their homes when they were 16 years old.

The overall average of the PIAAC was around 115 books per home but it varied significantly by country. For example, the average crossed 200 books per home in Sweden and Norway while it dropped to less than 60 in Turkey, Chile, and Singapore. However, the thing that remained constant throughout the globe was that a greater number of books was linked to greater mental abilities. Even though the effects continued to increase with the number of books, a plateau was observed at the 350-mark. The researchers described their findings in the following words:

“Bookish adolescents with lower secondary education credentials become as literate, numerate and technologically apt in adulthood as university graduates who grew up with only a few books. Early exposure to books in [the] parental home matters because books are an integral part of routines and practices that enhance lifelong cognitive competencies.”