Sometimes I find that I’m in this little bubble of people who read a lot just like me but the moment I step away from my computer, I start to be hit with the reminder that so many people don’t read. And even more so, so many people in my real life don’t read fiction. But why is that? Did school burn us out from reading fiction? Or from reading anything at all? Do we just not have enough time anymore? Did someone tell us that fiction isn’t valuable? I know there are so many benefits of reading fiction, so why do people stop?
I’m not sure what the answer to these questions are but what I do know is that reading fiction has made me an immensely better person. I believe in myself more, I empathize with others more, and most importantly, I know who I am. And I found all of that through fiction. I know that might sound like I’m exaggerating but I’m not. If it weren’t for reading The Poppy War by RF Kuang, I never would have known that I could read books by people who look like me and about people who look like me. If I had never read A Pho Love Story by Loan Le, I never would have had the confidence to start reclaiming my Vietnamese identity, if only a little.
Aside from my personal victories that came directly from fiction, there are so many other ways that literature impacts us. We’ve talked about why literature is so important and the myth of universality in literature. But there are so many studies emphasizing the personal benefits of reading fiction too!
Today I’m here to convince you of the benefits of reading fiction so that you can get your healthy dose of escapism too! And because I sincerely believe that fiction can change the world but I also believe that change starts within ourselves first. So I hope today we can discuss how reading fiction benefits you personally!
Does reading fiction make you smarter?
From personal experience, I can answer this question already. YES! The biggest benefit of reading fiction is that it makes you smarter! I cannot tell you how many things I’ve learned from reading fiction. From learning about different cultures to learning about interesting logistics on how to run a business (shout out to romance novels and their interesting professions!) Though you’re probably not here for my personal experience.
Even according to scientific studies, reading fiction does make you smarter. A study published in Neuroreport suggests that children who read more have developed more maturation in the cortical layer of the brain. Which is a complicated way to say that this study found that reading fiction more actually does help with the development of your brain.
The cortical region of the brain is the part of the brain that is responsible for the most complex thought. So essentially this study found that children who read more are developing the part of their brain responsible for our highest mental capabilities. Pretty cool!
Further, another study’s findings suggest that when we read regularly, we start to suggest improvement in our brain connectivity. What is most interesting about this study is that it conducted brain scans on people not only in the morning after reading but over a longer period of time. The increased connectivity in their brains lasted for several days after the study! This means that reading fiction regularly literally helps increase brain function.
Why is reading good for your health?
For me, reading is one of the only things that can calm my stress down. I’m overly anxious at all times but when I’m reading, I’m able to relax. So much so that my fitness watch says I’m more stressed when I’m sleeping than when I’m reading. I swear! Reading truly is the best way for me to sit down and relax so that I can actually recharge that energy. But is reading actually good for our health? Is that just a me thing? Turns out it isn’t!
In a study published by the Journal of College Teaching and Learning in 2009, the findings suggest that 30 minute sessions of reading fiction, yoga, and humor significantly reduced the subject’s blood pressure and heart rate. All of these activities had the same outcome in reducing blood pressure and heart rate! The study even found that no single intervention produced significantly improved results. That means that this study suggests that reading fiction is just as effective in reducing blood pressure and heart rate as yoga or humor.
Why is reading fiction good for adults?
Another study from 2017 is another emphasis on the benefits of reading fiction with an even more astounding finding. In a 12 year study, researchers found evidence that reading books can actually help you live longer. Their results show a 20% reduction in risk of death over the 12 years following the study when compared to non-book readers. Can you believe it? There is evidence that reading can literally help you live longer!
I think it’s also important that we discuss how reading fiction can also benefit us as we age. The Fisher Center for Alzheimer’s Research Foundation published an article discussing further benefits of reading fiction on an aging mind. Their findings suggest that people who read and do other mentally challenging activities had a much slower decline in memory than those who did not exercise their brains.
This relates back to those cognitive enhancement studies we talked about earlier. When we exercise our brains, it helps them become stronger. So reading fiction isn’t just great for kids but it’s crucial for adults!
Psychological benefits of reading
There have been multiple studies over the years about how reading fiction can improve empathy (and you’ve probably seen this to be true in your everyday lives). This study took on the task of reinforcing that reading fiction improves empathy with a much larger sample size. Unsurprisingly, even with a larger sample size, the findings were the same: reading fiction in even one setting can improve our empathy.
I know this to be true in my daily life. I would not be the same person that I am today without fiction. Without reading works by authors with different experiences than me or without reading works by authors with similar experiences to me. I trust others more, I believe in others more, and I fight for others more. Reading fiction has truly changed who I am as a person and I’m sure you can see it in your daily life too if you’re looking for it!
What is the value of reading fiction? Are there benefits of reading fiction that impact the bigger picture? The world?
If I haven’t already convinced you that reading fiction has value I have one more study up my sleeve to show you. This is my favorite study that I’ve read for this blog post. This is something that I feel so strongly about every single day but I didn’t have the scholarly evidence to back it up. Until now.
Our brains have a difficult time separating the difference between fictional stories and events that actually happened. Therefore, fiction offers us an abstraction, simplification, and compression of personal experiences. They give us a simulation of social interactions that could happen in real life, otherwise, the characters wouldn’t be realistic. Writers build their characters to connect with readers and readers read to connect with characters and stories.
Have you ever connected with a character so much that you cried alongside them? Or cried when they tragically died in the narrative? That connection facilitates our understanding of social information in a simplified and compelling way. What is especially important about this?
Because it simulates real social interactions, it gives us a chance to engage with people who are different from us. It gives us a chance to connect with people who we may never interact with in real life. It enhances our capacity for empathy and allows us to connect to more people and more backgrounds. This study shows evidence that reading fiction “can facilitate the understanding of others who are different from ourselves and can augment our capacity for empathy and social inference.”
Moving Forward
So what are the benefits of reading fiction? Is there greater value in reading? We are actually learning from the experiences of the characters. When we read a book about the experience of someone else, we’re learning what that experience was like for them. It is so often that people will give authors the advice to “write your truth” or “write what you know” and they are spot on.
But further, writing what you know will actually help transfer that knowledge to readers. Even more exciting, as readers, that means that you’re connecting on a deeper level with the author and others who have read the same book as you. Reading fiction is truly a powerful force and it is something that we should not take for granted. Stories are powerful and can truly change the world.
