You’ve probably heard once or twice (probably more) that reading every day for at least twenty minutes is beneficial, but the conversation ends there. What are the true benefits of reading everyday? In this blog, I will explore some of the many benefits to reading daily.
Improvement in School Performance
We’re always looking for ways to improve our grade and our overall performance in school and reading daily is a great way to do that. A study that examined the reading habits of 65 rural high school in southern Texas found that students who self-selected books and read up to 30 minutes a day saw an average increase of .11% in English, 1.71% in science, and “higher increases of 4.43% in mathematics and 2.05% in history.” In terms of a final grade, these increases in grade point average are significant--1.71% in science could mean the difference between getting a B in the course to getting an A.
Vocabulary Expansion
An article authored by Renaissance.com found that students who read more than 30 minutes a day encountered 12 million more words than someone who read less than 15 minutes per day. Reading 30 minutes can be difficult to do for a myriad of reasons, but Renaissance.com states that students who read 15-29 minutes daily were exposed to 5.7 million words. Although less, reading 15-29 minutes seems to be the “sweet spot” in vocabulary expansion. Vocab expansion is important because it assists in reading comprehension and communication skills. Imagine what you could say and how many ways you could say it after you’ve seen 5.7 million words!
Increased Empathy and Understanding of Others
My AP Language and Composition teacher used to encourage us to put ourselves in the lives of the characters in the book or novel. We were to imagine ourselves deeply immersed into the world of the book and react as the characters would. This process of internalizing the feelings and reactions of the characters is empathy and through reading daily your empathy will grow. And why is that important? Well, in the professional world, you will have to understand those who you are working with very deeply in order to help them, to sell something to them, or to create something for them. No matter if you are a business executive, a project manager, a professional dancer or chef, you will have to understand other people deeply to do your job well!
How often do you read? Let us know in the comments!
Written by Amon Pierson
Stay connected with news and updates!
Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from The Franklin Toolkit.
Don't worry, your information will not be shared.
We hate SPAM. We will never sell your information, for any reason.
