Benefits of Reading Books and How to Take Care of Old Used Books

There are so many benefits to reading books. But let's face it: It can be challenging to motivate ourselves to read a 382-page book when we can watch the movie, listen to the audiobook, or watch a YouTube video summary instead.

However, if most of your daily reading consists of social media posts, text messages, and news headlines, you're missing out. So, what are the benefits of reading books? If you're interested in reading more books but need some motivation, this article is for you. After all, when you understand the importance of reading books, you're more likely to do it.

There are so many benefits to reading books. If you're interested in reading more books but need some motivation, this article is for you. We have also covered ways to take care of old used books for book lovers.

Mental Stimulation for Your Brain

When you read every day, you stimulate your mental activity. Numerous studies have been conducted to understand the benefits of reading. As per a study, one of the prime benefits of reading books is slowing down mental disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Dementia [1] It happens since reading stimulates the brain and keeps it active, which allows it to retain its power and capacity.

Every part of our body needs exercise to stay healthy, and the same goes for our brain. Reading gives it regular exercise and keeps it healthy and sound. Even playing games like chess or solving puzzles results in cognitive stimulation.

Increases your ability to empathize

And speaking of sensing pain, research has shown that people who read literary fiction — stories that explore the inner lives of characters — show a heightened ability to understand the feelings and beliefs of others.

Researchers call this ability the “theory of mind,” a set of skills essential for building, navigating, and maintaining social relationships.

While a single session of reading literary fiction isn’t likely to spark this feeling, research shows that long-term fiction readers do tend to have a better-developed theory of mind.

Good Habit for Stress Reduction

Everyday concerns will keep bothering you unless you do something to divert your mind. Reading gives you that mental space to occupy yourself with something more interesting.

When you read a great story, all your stress seems to slip away and relax you since you tend to travel mentally in a different realm. Sometimes while reading, you come across valuable advice or solutions to your problems.

Prepares you for a good night’s rest

Doctors at the Mayo Clinic suggest reading as part of a regular sleep routine.

For best results, you may want to choose a print book rather than reading on a screen, since the light emitted by your device could keep you awake and lead to other unwanted health outcomes. Doctors also recommend that you read somewhere other than your bedroom if you have trouble falling asleep.

Knowledge-Enhancement

Reading Important to Enhance the Knowledge

Since the onset of civilization, we have grown and developed mentally. Many learned scholars give credit to the erudite tomes written by our predecessors for our knowledge. The importance of reading books is now more than ever since. Not everything is available in digitalized form.

There are numerous ways to learn more about life, from self-help books to reading fiction. Even when you feel demotivated, you can read an inspirational biography to lift your mood. One of the great benefits of reading books is that the knowledge you gain from them can never be taken away from you. Unlike worldly possessions, your knowledge will stay with you till the end of time.

May even help you live longer

A long-term health and retirement study followed a cohort of 3,635 adult participants for a period of 12 years, finding that those who read books survived around 2 years longer than those who either didn’t read or who read magazines and other forms of media.

The study also concluded that people who read more than 3 1/2 hours every week were 23 percent likely to live longer than those who didn’t read at all.

Vocabulary Expansion

If you are not yet convinced on why reading books is important, this might interest you. When you develop the habit of reading, you enhance your vocabulary. Reading any type of book can improve your vocabulary to an impressive extent.

Having great command over the language is known to help many in their professional and academic life. Moreover, with better vocabulary knowledge, you get to fill yourself with self-confidence when sitting in a group with a knowledgeable audience. You can also expect to learn new languages when you develop the habit of reading various books every day.

Improve Your Communication Skills

The ability to communicate effectively is a vital life skill. In fact, one study discovered that 69% of employers are looking to hire people with "soft" skills, such as effective communication.

The good news? One of the key benefits of reading is that it helps us to communicate better. How? Reading every day can improve our communication skills in a few ways. For example, reading can influence your writing and increase your vocabulary. When we read well-written work, we naturally observe its writing style, cadence, and composition. These characteristics inevitably seep into our writing, in the same way that musicians are influenced by each other.

Improves Your Memory

Regular reading is a great exercise for your brain. If you read a fictional book, your brain is forced to remember the names and nature of various characters. Going back to their history and remembering events or plots is fun and improves your memory.

One of the greatest benefits of reading daily is that your brain becomes super powerful. An amazing fact about our brain is that it can retain a great amount of information, and with every new memory, your brain creates new brain pathways or synapses. Moreover, it strengthens your existing memory, helps to recall short-term memory, and stabilizes mood. .[4] How cool is that?

Stronger Analytical Thinking Skills

If you are still wondering what other benefits of reading regularly are, consider this! One of the most amazing benefits of reading every day is that it can improve your analytical skills. Reading mystery novels helps you develop skills that can assist you in problem-solving.

While reading a novel, the disclosure is pretty slow, and your mind is forced to predict or make guesses. Upon disclosure, you get to connect the dots. It’s fun to make your brain smarter and enhance your analytical skills.

Subconsciously the brain is trained to think more smartly and develop strong analytical skills. You can expect to gain from this in your personal and professional life.

Improves Focus and Concentration

One of the worst things that technology has done is make us lazy. Almost everything is available with ease. We hardly make an effort to focus on solving issues or concentrate on bringing about any improvement.

You can see where we are going with this. You can agree that we even tend to get lazy and don’t even put an effort to remember things. Simply put a reminder on the phone, and that’s it! While reading can bring back the lost power of focus and concentration. If you feel that using modern technology lowers our productivity, then develop the healthy habit of reading every day. Keeping yourself occupied with reading for about 20 to 30 minutes can be great for your brain. It can help you with better focus and concentration. You may have been doing it wrong for those who still find it difficult to develop focus or concentrate properly.

Better Writing Skills

If you read more, you will naturally become good at writing skills. Since your vocabulary and pronunciation improve by reading regularly, it eventually makes you a better writer.

We are not just talking about writing fiction, books, novels, etc. Even when writing something in everyday personal and professional life, your writing skills would have improved with regular reading. The more you read, the better your writing skills will become. You would tend to focus on various aspects of writing that would allow you to write more effectively than others.

Improve Your Mental Health

The pros of reading also extend to mental health. Researchers studied the effects of self-help books and found that many have a measurable impact on depression or other mood disorders.

As a result, the UK's National Health Service (NHS) began a book prescription program called Reading Well. This service prescribes self-help books curated by medical experts for certain conditions.

The act of using books as therapy is called "bibliotherapy." So, if you're struggling – and despite what life looks like on Instagram, we all struggle from time to time – consider reading one of the books on the NHS's curated list, which are proven to help ease symptoms.

Free Source of Entertainment

We do spend on movies and music, but why? It is for entertainment, isn’t it? Then why not simply read books with the same purpose? You would be surprised to know that some of your favorite movies or TV series were made after getting inspiration from some of the greatest novels.

What’s more interesting is that reading books would cost a lot less and keep you entertained for longer. Just At to the local library can introduce you to numerous entertaining novels. You can find books on any topic that you find interesting and keep yourself entertained.

How to take care of old used books

Store old used books safely

Taking care of any type of books, especially old used books is the same except for exceptions like leather books. The following are a few of the ways in which you can safely store your old used books.

Keep your used books clean and dust free

Dust is something that we as humans avoid which is just the case when it comes to proper ways of taking care of old used books. Imagine dressed in a sharply cut suit, then picking up an old book from the shelves just to find dust all over your palm. The dust may eventually cause you to start sneezing, which is not a good feeling. Just keep dusting them regularly.

Keep used books away from direct sunlight

Ultra violet rays emitted by the sun cause a chemical reaction on a paper. It is said that most fluorescent bulbs leak ultraviolet rays which have the same effect even though they are weaker. Sunlight also fades bindings and dust jackets. Store your books away from direct sunlight or use incandescent bulbs which are not directly facing your books.

Shelve and store old used books the right way

It is recommended that you shelve old used books in that they are standing upright, not leaning on the shelf. Do not keep the old used books too tight to each other or too loosely shelved. Tall books should be shelved with tall books. Stark similar-sized old used books together. When removing an old used book from the shelf, push the books on either side of it in, and remove the book by the middle of the spine. Do not just pull it from the top of the spine. Never store books with their spines facing up, or the fore edge facing up. In the former case, you’re putting strain on the binding that can cause the text block to separate from the cover, and in the latter case, you will cause the spine to become cocked or slanted.

Dress your old used books

Books need to be dressed too! Only in the right way. Myler jackets are one of the to recommended book covers which are also cheap. An old used book with a dust jacket should always be protected by a clear quality myler jacket. Myler prevents the jacket from being torn, scratched or from the oils from our hands, though the oils are not of much harm.

If you are one who cares about the environment, old maps and paper bags can also be a great way for covering old used books. There is an article that gives you a good guide on how you will use such things to cover a book.

Handle old used books with care

Hold the book by both hands, or cradle it in your lap while reading. If it’s a paperback, don’t fold the cover back upon itself. Turn the pages carefully by avoiding wrinkling the paper when doing so, if not, the edges of the pages will start folding at angles, which reduces the books lifespan. Try to keep food and drinks away from books. This does not mean that you should not take a cup of coffee when reading your favorite book. Just take good care that it does not spill.

When you’ve finished reading an old used book, make sure any book marks have been removed from the book. Avoid opening the book widely because this can damage the books spine. Just open as wide as it is necessary. Avoid repairing book pages with glue or tape, and don't treat leather bindings with oil. If your book needs repair, consult a professional before trying to fix the problem yourself.