REAL LIFE NEWS: SEE, I TOLD YOU READING WAS GOOD FOR YOU!
by Hazed
I’m an avid reader, and have been since I taught myself to read at about age three. My parents, while proud of the fact that I was such an advanced reader, never really felt that sitting still reading a book was a truly worthwhile pursuit, and always urged me to do something more important. “You’re not doing anything right now so go and lay the table…” my mother would say. I wanted to argue that I was, too, doing something: I was reading, but I knew that wouldn’t win me the argument, so I’d sigh heavily, put my book down and go do the work I had been designated to do.
Even today, people don’t generally place much value on reading fiction. It’s considered something to do to fill in time, rather than a worthwhile pursuit in itself.
But new research shows there is a benefit to reading a novel, because it causes biological changes in the brain which last for days.
Researchers at Emory University in the US found that reading a book can cause heightened connectivity in the brain and neurological changes in the left temporal cortex, an area of the brain which is associated with language receptivity. It also affects the primary sensory motor region, so that neurons are tricked into behaving as if the body has actually been moving simply by thinking about the action.
Participants had their brains scanned for five days after they had read the book as part of the study, and the affects showed up each of those days. Who knows, they may have lasted even longer.
It seems that when you put yourself into the shoes of the protagonist of a good book, your body reacts as if it’s really you going through the motions.
So if I am reading a book, just leave me alone: I’m not only training my brain, I’m training my body too!
