[T]here’s increasing evidence that reading for pleasure isn’t just another leisure pursuit, or merely a way of improving literacy skills and factual knowledge.
It might actually be good for our mental and physical health too.
Neuroscientist Baroness Susan Greenfield says that reading helps to lengthen attention spans in children and improves their ability to think clearly.
‘Stories have a beginning, a middle and an end – a structure that encourages our brains to think in sequence, to link cause, effect and significance,’ she says.
‘It is essential to learn this skill as a small child, while the brain has more plasticity, which is why it’s so important for parents to read to their children.
According to John Stein, emeritus professor of neuroscience at Magdalen College, Oxford, reading is far from a passive activity. ‘Reading exercises the whole brain,’ he explains.
‘When we “get lost” in a good book, we’re doing more than simply following a story. Imagining what’s happening is as good at activating the brain as “doing” it.’
New MRI scanning techniques now enable science to prove this. In 2009, an American brain-imaging study showed that when we read and imagine the landscapes, sounds, smells and tastes described on the page, the various areas of the brain that are used to process these experiences in real life are activated, creating new neural pathways.
In 2009, researchers at the University of Sussex found that just six minutes of reading can reduce stress levels by more than two-thirds, more than listening to music or going out for a walk.
It is thought that the concentration required to read distracts the mind, easing muscle tension and slowing the heart rate.
Reading may be good for physical health too, preventing brain ageing and disease.