{"id":9144,"date":"2019-11-21T08:30:42","date_gmt":"2019-11-21T13:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/healthyhorizons\/?p=9144"},"modified":"2019-11-14T08:28:28","modified_gmt":"2019-11-14T13:28:28","slug":"benefits-of-reading-for-pleasure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/healthyhorizons\/community-events\/benefits-of-reading-for-pleasure\/","title":{"rendered":"Benefits of Reading for Pleasure"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Reading for pleasure is widely regarded as a good thing but is that enough? It\u2019s enough for those of us who happen to love reading and who have time for it. But what if we had evidence that it was such a good thing that omitting it from a school curriculum or time-table was a bad\u00a0<\/em>thing? What if senior management teams needed evidence? What if school library funding were being cut? What if too many people were too busy to prioritize reading for pleasure? What if teenagers were avoiding it because no one was telling them how it would affect their lives, well-being and perhaps even exam results?<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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It turns out that\u00a0all<\/em>\u00a0those things are true.<\/p>\n

It turns out that reading for pleasure has a wide range of extremely important benefits, benefits which we absolutely owe our young people. I\u2019d argue that\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0to promote reading for pleasure and not to create a reading culture in school is a dereliction of duty towards our students. It will make their lives poorer.<\/p>\n

Until 2015, I felt this in my heart but actual evidence was flimsy. There were many studies but some were very small or not replicated and it was hard to be able to say with any certainty what the results really showed. All that changed in 2015 when the UK\u2019s Reading Agency published its\u00a0Literature Review, a meta-study of hundreds of other studies over many years. \u201cReading for pleasure has a dramatic impact on life outcomes,\u201d was the headline conclusion.<\/p>\n

The research also showed that it wasn\u2019t just the daily act of reading but the\u00a0enjoyment<\/em>\u00a0of it that made the difference. Hence the phrase \u201creading for\u00a0pleasure\u201d.\u00a0<\/em>So, now we know: daily reading for pleasure positively affects mental health, self-esteem, vocabulary, general knowledge, socio-economic status, relationships, mood control, empathy, self-understanding and stress levels.<\/p>\n

It was that last one \u2013 stress levels \u2013 that led me to invent the concept of\u00a0\u201creadaxation\u201d. I define this as \u201cReading for pleasure deliberately to lower stress levels, thus increasing well-being and performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why might reading for pleasure reduce stress?<\/h3>\n