Why is Reading Good For You? 10 Benefits of Reading

Why is reading good for you? Not only does reading give you knowledge that you didn’t know before, science says that reading stimulates your brain, prevents Alzheimers, and improves you overall health. It’s the ultimate way to progress towards achieving success in your life.

When I graduated college, I read a book every two weeks. I learned so much during that time period. The books taught me about negotiation, body language, psychology, and selling. Each book taught me something I didn’t already know before and I applied it in situations that I didn’t even think about.

When I wanted to go into a 24 hour Fitness, the person tried to charge me $15 to go in for a one time session. I countered with $5. Then the person re-countered with $10. Normally, I would have said yes and paid the $10. One negotiation book taught me that it’s fine to stand your ground.

Then I phrased the next question as “well, can you make an exception just this one time and let me in for $5?” To my surprise, the clerk agreed. That’s another $5 that I saved on top of the $5 that I saved before. A $10 book saved me an additional $5, which is a 50% return on investment. Phenomenal.

That’s why reading is good for you. It teaches you to get out of situations that you haven’t even thought of before. It may not help you the exact same day but some day after, you might instantly remember things from books. Not only does reading help with book smarts, it helps with street smarts as well.

You’ll be amazed at how beneficial reading books is if you try it for a year.

Why is Reading Good For You?

One way to answer, “why is reading good for you?” is to SMASH that social share button and post to your favorite social media! It could just help convince that one friend to read more in their life. Then once they get into the habit of reading, who knows what more they can accomplish afterwards?

Knowledge is powerful and this article can convince your friends to change their lives for the better. For free!

So with that said, let’s go into the tangible benefits that reading can provide you.

1) The Authors are Your Personal Employees

Think about it. The author not only spent years of their life gathering the knowledge but spent money as well. They spent all that time and money to craft it into a good book so that you don’t have to. You save all of that time and money that goes into learning that knowledge through experiences.

it’s an even bigger bonus if others recommend that book or article. Others already went through the hours it takes to read the book and know that you can gain value out of it as well. That’s a double whammy of a benefit. You enjoy the fruits of the author’s labor for only.. $10 a pop or so.

Even better if you head down to your local library and check out books for free.

Learning through experience is the best thing. It helps you remember the lesson better because it registers in your brain easily. However, the second best thing is through reading. You don’t have to wait for something to happen to you, you can read about those things yourself.

That’s why reading is good for you. You don’t have to wait for things to happen and the author toiled and spent their lives to gather the information for you. That sounds like a good combo to me.

2) Reading Makes You Smarter

You gain an edge over someone else through reading. Before I read personal finance blogs, I had no idea what a 401k or a Roth IRA was. Once I started reading personal finance blogs, I began to take steps with intent. None of the people I started my career with fully understood the benefits of a 401k.

They were happy not contributing to a retirement plan account, not realizing what they are actually losing out on. (Hint, hundreds of thousands of dollars throughout their lifetime). Also, that’s only one example of how reading benefitted me. I had no idea how to negotiate either until I started reading.

Successful people don’t start off the race at a better position than others to finish the race. It happens gradually. Over a long period of time, you can clearly see the difference in position between the successful person and the average person.

One point of differentiation that made the two people so far apart is through learning and knowledge. Reading can help anyone gradually better their position in the race. Until one day, they actually cross the finish line.

3) You Learn Different Perspectives

You don’t want to be closed off to one perspective. I thought perspective was just a feel-good word that people liked to use. it’s not. Perspective is how you look at the world. How you look at the world shapes your thinking, mood, and ultimately decisions.

There’s an infinite number of perspectives to learn and see the world through. Why be closed off to one? The world is a bigger place than you realize. Reading helps you understand and put yourself in other people’s shoes. There are eight billion people on Earth. That’s eight billion stories you can potentially learn from.

I used this as one of my selling points during an interview. They asked me “why should we hire you?” I replied with, “coming from an immigrant background, I can bring to the table other perspectives from a different side of the world”. I got the job. People appreciate different lines of thinking, knowledge, and stories.

It’s a big world out there, after all.

4) Mental Stimulation

Another reason why reading is good for you is that it stimulates your brain. There is a famous study that observed how the brain behaves during a reading session. Researchers observed the brain through MRI scans and found that reading lights up the complex network of circuits in your brain.

It’s an activity that exercises your brain to continuously grow stronger and larger. Your brain is one of the most important organs in your body. It’s a good idea to exercise it often to keep it healthy over a long period of time. Keep it active and it’ll strengthen your brain even further than it already is.

5) It May Prevent Alzheimers

Although studies are inconclusive, a good reason to read is that it may actually prevent Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s is incurable as of today and it’s unknown when it will be. Therefore, instead of depending on scientists to prevent it, why not take steps that may help prevent it?

By exercising your brain frequently, you’re strengthening it every day. One day you might realize the fruits of your labor by having one less disease to worry about. It helps keep your brain clean from plaques that may develop in people with dementia. It’s correlative data for now and not causation data.

However, it’s a correlation that you can use to your advantage.

6) Reading Books Pays for Itself

Why is reading good for you? One $10 investment can potentially save you $1,000+ in a single day. That’s an investment return you can’t find anywhere else. When I negotiated my salary from $86,000 to $105,000, the negotiation books I read really helped.

If you just learn one idea from those $10 book that helps you later down the road, it paid for it self 100 times over. Not only did you use the idea to your advantage that one time, you still maintain the knowledge you learned. It never goes away and no one can take it away from you. How great is that?

I remember at least the most important idea from every book that I personally chose to read. It applied to so many aspects of my life. I can only imagine what would have happened had I chose not to read those books. I can only wonder whether the different choices would have been positive or negative.

7) Reading Helps You Communicate and Influence Better

It’s a well known saying that the pen is mightier than the sword. Force is only so effective. When you force someone to take off their jacket, the person complies temporarily. When you convince someone to take off their jacket, the person complies happily and possibly permanently.

The more you read, the more you become a wordsmith. Wordsmiths are phenomenal at convincing people and influencing them. You can’t convince and get people to back your ideas if you don’t know how to communicate. Communication is one of the most underrated skillsets you can ever acquire.

The ones who reach the tops of their careers rarely are the best at doing Excel spreadsheets or math. They know how to talk their way out of a situation. They convince the higher ups that they are the best person to be promoted. Just doing good work isn’t enough. It’s about convincing others that you are doing good work that matters.

Why is reading good for you? You become a much better influencer through words. People don’t care about your smarts, they care about how you make them feel.

8) Cheap Way to Pass the Time

Reading is almost like a movie without having to get ready, drive, and wait in line for the tickets. You don’t have to ask for anyone’s permission to read. It can cost money like a $10 book or it can completely be free. Most information is readily available at our fingertips, which is great.

It’s a cheap way to pass the time. Instead of spending hundreds of dollars on a concert ticket, you can read. Of course, it’s not bad to go out and actually go to concerts, spend money, and enjoy life. However, a cheaper alternative to entertain yourself is to read. It’s free if you can access the internet.

If you can entertain yourself and at the same time learn something, that’s a double benefit. There’s no need to buy the latest Nintendo Switch that costs hundreds of dollars. You can just snuggle up and read a good book all at the comfort of your home.

9) Reading Books Can Make You Money

Why is reading good for you? It can help make you money. It depends on what you read. I personally do not like reading fictional books. Sure, it tells a good story but I generally like reading about business, negotiation, and achieving financial independence.

If you are the type of person who is interested in those topics, it can help make you money. I would not have a $350,000 net worth today if I hadn’t found personal finance blogs in college. I know exactly what I need to do with every paycheck and with every dollar that enters into my life.

it’s knowledge I wouldn’t have known if I hadn’t read personal finance blogs for hours and hours on end. I’m on the 97 – 98 percentile of net worth within my age group. How did I get there? Because I put in the effort to learn about how to get rich. It’s amazing when you get to enjoy the fruits of your labor.

10) It Helps You Be More Empathetic

When you understand and actually learn about other people’s perspectives, your empathy levels go up. When your empathy levels go up, you gain more friends and people who are in your corner. It makes you a better human being who people will relate to more.

Remember that reading improves your communication skills? A great way to improve that skillset is to have more empathy. We’re all different with a diverse set of experiences and mindset. Once you genuinely have the ability to put yourself in the other person’s shoes by having more empathy, you’re on the right path.

You don’t want to live so closed off to only one perspective and one way of thinking. By closing yourself off, you miss out on the benefits of learning from other people. There’s at least one thing you can learn from every person on Earth. It doesn’t always have to be on what to do, it can be on what not to do.

Having more empathy is a discounted, tangible benefit people don’t consider about reading.

Reading is Good For You, Especially Nonfiction Books

Fiction books can be beneficial to you. It improves your creativity levels versus someone who is just focused on reality. However, the books that can permanently change your life are nonfiction books. When I was younger, I loved grabbing books that were based around stories.

I got to explore a completely different world that I’ve never seen before. However, I completely forgot what I read about five, ten years down the road. The nonfiction books and articles I read, I remember. Why? They are more applicable to my life than any other books I read.

When I meet someone for the first time now, it’s easy for me to read their body language and feel what they’re feeling. It’s a different perspective that I didn’t even know existed until I picked up a book highlighting body language. Schools don’t teach that much about body language, you have to learn on your own.

Why is reading good for you? Not only can it help your health by stimulating your brain, it gives you an edge. Knowledge that no one else knows about. You would think that people would be willing to spend $10 on something that benefits their life beyond anything they ever experienced. People aren’t.

People aren’t willing to put in the work to become successful. Most people want success to happen to them instead of seeking it out on their own. That’s where you can come in and use that to your advantage. Reading is not a complicated thing. Anyone can do it.

So if anyone can do it, why wouldn’t you? It might just potentially propel you to new heights you never thought you’d reach. There’s no need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on college, you can just read on your own and learn.

Why is Reading Good For You List

• Authors are your personal employees
• Reading makes you smarter
• You learn different perspectives
• Mental stimulation
• Prevents Alzheimers
• Reading books pays for itself
• Reading helps you communicate and influence better
• Cheap way to pass the time
• Reading books can make you money
• It helps you be more emphathetic