Why do we Read? Education Research Paper Assignment.

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Why do we Read?
Why do we read? Reading transports us into worlds we would never see, introduces us to individuals we would never meet, and imparts in us emotions we may never otherwise feel. Through reading, we enter into another time zone. The setting, the characters, and the plot occupy us, and while we are in the reading process, we dwell in the others’ reality. Reading provides pleasure that is derived from escaping our repetitive, small, and limited lives, and places us in an exotic that exists elsewhere. Reading does not impact detriment but improves our lives to escalated levels we never thought of achieving. It increases our knowledge and skills towards overcoming challenges such as failure in our daily activities and focusing on the anticipated achievements. In addition, reading also provides an array of health benefits, and researches conducted on various scientific platforms prove that reading is beneficial on several levels.
Reading reduces stress. In a 2009 study conducted in the U.K. at the University of Sussex, Dr. David Lewis, cognitive neuropsychologist, discovered that engaging in the reading process for a minimum of six minutes lowered stress levels by up to sixty-eight percent. A more substantial effect compared to listening to music (sixty-one percent), drinking a cup of coffee or tea (fifty-four percent), and going for a walk (forty-two percent). This affirmation shows that reading is the most effective way of reducing if not eradicating stress. For instance, a stressed person can engage in a stress management script to acquire the tactics of avoiding stress and also the ways of dealing with the situation if it already exists. Dr. David Lewis asserted that the ability to be entirely distracted and immersed is what makes reading the optimal way to relieve stress (Lewis, np). Hence, people undergoing stress should consider reading as an ultimate solution in their distressing conditions.
Reading, especially daily, is associated with longevity. According to a team of Yale researchers, this claim followed 3635 participants older than fifty years, for twelve years. The study confirmed that individuals who read books had a twenty-three-month survival advantage compared to non-book readers who read magazines or newspapers (Bavishi et al., 47). Although different people may engage in reading, the impact of the activity on life span depends on the type of material read. Longevity is only associated with book reading and not reading for leisure in outsourcing from materials for issues such as emerging trends in beauty from magazines. The study also confirmed that subjects who engage in the reading process for more than three and a half hours were twenty-three percent less likely to die, and those who participated in the reading process for less than three and a half hours were seventeen percent less likely to die (Bavishi et al., 47). Thus, the longer the hours in reading, the longer the time spent alive. It can be concluded from this study that book reading is associated with a prolonged lifespan.
Reading increases our ability to break down information. In a 2013 study conducted by Minhea C. Moldoveanu, Keith Oatley, and Maja Djikic, the researchers tested the hypothesis by reading short stories, compared to reading nonfictional stories that will lower the requirement for cognitive closure. The study enlisted one-hundred subjects who were given the option of either reading a short story or an essay (Djikic et al., 150). The participants’ cognitive closure was examined after reading. As hypothesized, participants in the essay category experienced a drastic decline in cognitive closure when compared to those in the short story category. The results of this study suggest that generally, reading fictional literature could improve processes of breaking down information, including those of creativity (Djikic et al., 153). The impact does not correlate with nonfictional reading, and people seeking to gain the information breaking down skill should identify and engage in the desired scripts that enhance the knowledge.
People read because reading provides emotional transportation. To determine whether fictional learning influences empathy, Matthijs Bal and Martijn Veltkamp conducted a study which enlisted sixty-six Dutch participants to investigate whether fictional experiences can alter the reader's understanding. Based on the transportation theory, the study concluded that when individuals read fictional stories, and they become emotionally transported into the narrative, their empathy increases (Bal & Martijn, np). The activities in the description conform the mindsets and thoughts of readers into literally doing the right things realized in the reading. However, the individuals must introduce the ultimate focus to ensuring the capturing of the required emotions from the narrative to their real-life situations. The study used two experiments, which determined that for individuals who read fictional stories, empathy was influenced only when they were emotionally transported into the narrative. In both studies, no transportation resulted in decreased empathy. The study concluded that fiction affects the reader's empathy, but only under the condition in which there was a high or low emotional transportation of the reader (Bal & Martijn, np). Readers must indulge in emotional connection with the information in the narratives to enhance the transport of empathy.
People read to improve their sleep patterns and increase their peace. Writer Stephanie Huston asserts that her thinking that she had insufficient time to incorporate book reading in her schedule was a lame excuse. Now that Stephanie Huston has made it a goal to read fifty books in a year, she reports that she has traded wasted time flipping pages in bed, on her phone, during meal break Two months into her challenge, Stephanie Huston says that she is having more satisfaction and peace as well as improved sleep, while learning more than she thought was possible (DesMarias, 1). Book reading helps induce sleep in the incidences of lack of sleep or someone taking more extended periods before natural sleeping after getting to bed. The action aids in evading a lot of thinking that may yield distractions during sleep. Reading is a source of great motivation. Reading a book, such as an autobiography, helps us gain courage, and we also adopt tips to help us attain our personal goals. The inspiration from information in various books allows people to keep moving and working towards all the anticipated objectives in life. Basically, through reading such genres of books, we get inspired to better husbands, wives, daughters, sons, mothers, fathers, or even employees. Books shape people into generally better beings in round engagements in life.
With these persuasive facts running in mind, reading becomes an at...