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Bookworms, this will make your day and possibly encourage you to hit the comfy part of your sofa with a paperback. You may or may not be aware of this, but reading fiction is highly beneficial, and there are scientific studies to back this up. A recent study published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin found that people who grow up reading fiction have a richer and more complex worldview than those who don’t. Read on to discover more reasons to continue doing what you love and enjoying the pleasure of reading and rereading your favorite fiction masterpieces.
Developing Your Imagination
According to Basmo, a book tracking app, your imagination can be significantly improved and developed when reading literary fiction. And why is that important? Imagination allows you to be more creative and helps you with your problem solving skills. What’s more, the About My Brain platform claims that the ability to imagine things influences everything a person does, thinks about and creates, regardless of their profession. That sounds pretty important, doesn't it? And to think that all you need to do to work on this skill is to read a great novel!
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Improving Your Health
Want a mood boost? According to The New Yorker, reading improves people’s mood considerably and brings it to a pleasurable state. It even provides health benefits and relaxation. The New Yorker also reports that regular readers have lower stress levels, lower rates of depression and higher self esteem than non-readers. Reading fiction can work wonders for both your physical and mental health.
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Becoming More Empathetic
Empathy is all about standing in someone else’s shoes and seeing things from their point of view. So it makes sense that reading and developing a relationship with the characters and becoming invested in the journey they are going through can help you do that after you’ve closed the book as well. According to a study conducted by Keith Oatley, a novelist and professor at the University of Toronto, those who read fiction have significantly higher levels of empathy compared to nonfiction readers.
Another study analyzed what happened after people read the popular Harry Potter books. The study showed that after reading J.K. Rowling’s novels, the participants became more empathetic towards people who were different from them and to minority groups. The conclusion was that the greatest magic of Harry Potter is that it reduces prejudice, breaks stereotypes and promotes empathy. So bring out the butterbeer and let’s cheer combating unconscious biases and broadening worldviews!
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Building Your Language
One of the benefits of reading fiction, according to the Tidy Books platform, is that it will help you build your language skills and vocabulary. You may not even notice that this is happening, but it does! When you read, you expose yourself to new vocabulary and new language. You might even get to read from authors who have different dialects and speech patterns! Who said learning can’t happen under a cozy blanket while holding a book in one hand and hot cocoa in the other?
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Processing Your Emotions
Have you ever wondered what happens in your brain when you read fiction? The psychology of reading fiction is constantly being explored, so clearly others are curious as well. And according to In Daily, when a person indirectly experiences an event associated with an emotion, for example, if they read about what happens to a character and how they feel about it, the same region of the brain is triggered as if they had experienced the event themselves.
Oatley explains that this process can help you process your emotions and prompt you to understand your inner life better.
So, if you are ready to pick up some fiction novels and enjoy the benefits, check out these books that are at the top of the popular fiction book chart at the moment.
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