Reading is good for your brain
Neurological studies are continuously proving and updating the benefits of reading.
It’s time you admit that the teachers, parents, friends or colleagues who never stopped telling you that “reading is good,” were right. For years, neurological studies have been corroborating what was said by all those who encouraged you to set the video-game aside and trade it for a book.
Natalie Philips coordinated a group of neuroscientists from Stanford to examine via MRI scans the blood flow in the brains of people who read passages from Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park, both in a recreational and a critical manner.
The results were surprising. In both cases, Philips saw a rise in blood flow that exceeded “work or play” levels. While reading critically, blood flow rose to such an extent that they surpassed the brain regions which are in charge of identification and problem solving.
In other words, both types of reading were neurologically healthy and prompted us to expand our horizons, both absolutely literally and metaphorically.
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