5 Reasons Why Reading Is So Important For Student Success

Perhaps, all students have heard that reading is one of the most important skills. After all, reading, writing, and listening are the three main activities they have to deal with in high school, college, or university. All teachers love to emphasize the importance of reading. Not all of them, however, bother to explain what exactly makes reading so crucial for the students’ success.

While teachers are always excited about reading, students may be less enthusiastic, and the main reason is that many of them don’t know what specific benefits they can get if they read more. The thing is that reading is important not only for students but for anyone’s cognitive development, in general. Reading plays a key role in the intellectual development of children. Even infants that listen to what their parents read demonstrate an increased academic success in the future.

Boosting Academic Performance Through Reading

“Reading can help students in many ways. Not only is it a great exercise for your memory and comprehension, but it can also be a great part of your personal development,” says Bill Murray, instructor at the University of Michigan and reviewer at Legit Writing Services, a website dedicated to essay writing services. “If you’re not used to reading anything longer than posts on social media, reading enables you to step out of your comfort zone and feed your brain with some information. Besides, reading is one of the most important skills in modern society.”

We need reading in our everyday lives and when looking for a job. Obviously, reading also enables you to gain new knowledge and to better understand topics you’re interested in. Last but not least, reading develops your imagination. When watching movies or playing video games, you don’t need to use your imagination because you’re simply consuming pre-made images. Reading gives your imagination much more freedom so it can also boost your creativity.

Now let’s take a look at five main advantages of reading so that you will know why you need it.

The Role of Reading in Educational Success

1. Enhancing Focus and Concentration

When students talk about academic success, quite often, they are looking for ways to improve their productivity. If you want to be more productive, you should be able to focus on your tasks, without being distracted by anything. You should train your concentration, and reading is one of the simplest yet very effective exercises that can help you stay concentrated.

Both modern students and modern employees spend a lot of time multitasking. Multitasking might seem to be a good approach but the truth is that it won’t help you increase productivity. Quite the opposite, you may quickly get exhausted so you won’t be able to complete all the necessary tasks. When reading, you learn to focus on one task, and you can transfer this skill to other parts of your life.

2. Mental Benefits of Regular Reading

Not only can reading help you get some creative ideas, but it can also train your brain and improve it physically. For instance, according to research, reading can help fight Alzheimer’s disease. Almost 300 people in their 80s who participated in the study and read regularly demonstrated a significantly slower memory decline compared to those who didn’t read.

3. Stress Reduction Through Books

All students leave stressful lives. They are constantly overwhelmed because they need to attend classes, do their homework, prepare for tests, and participate in extracurricular activities. Besides, many college students have part-time jobs or need to take care of their families. The lack of time and an overwhelming amount of work make stress and anxiety an integral part of many students’ lives.

Quite often, students go to therapy or seek medication. Those who want to address the cause of their problems can also learn to fight stress through meditation, yoga, or other activities. Reading is another effective method that can help you fight stress.

According to research, six minutes of reading makes a big difference in people’s stress levels. Reading slowed down participants’ heart rates and reduced muscle tension. Moreover, reading is really effective: it can reduce stress levels by as much as 68%.

4. Reading Creates A Sense Of Belonging

Reading can help you fight stress and anxiety, and it can also help you address some other problems. For instance, if you’re feeling lonely and unconfident, or if you’re feeling lost, a good book can become your friend. Reading enables you to comfort yourself and creates a sense of belonging.

Every time you encounter ideas that you can relate to, you can realize that you’re not alone. If you read stories about real people’s struggles, you will feel empowered and more motivated. Given that reading both provides you with new knowledge and boosts your creativity, it can help you find solutions you’d never thought of, suggesting ideas and giving you some inspiration.

5. Building a Stronger Vocabulary

Reading and writing are two interconnected skills. When you read, you can learn from successful writers, seeing examples of impressive writing, and using them in the future. Reading can help you improve your grammar, and it can also expand your vocabulary, which is especially important for students.

An increased vocabulary can improve the results of students’ intelligence tests. No matter what discipline you study, the chances are that you would like your writing assignments to be more professional, detailed, and well-written. If you don’t do a lot of writing but prepare speeches and presentations, you might also make them interesting, impressive, and engaging.

Both speech and writing have something in common: to achieve the best results, we should be able to choose the best words. You may need to use some terms to describe complex processes in detail, or you may be able to explain complex ideas using simple words. No matter what your goal is, your success to a large extent depends on your vocabulary, and reading regularly will almost certainly improve your vocabulary.

Why Reading Is So Important Wrap Up

As you can see, when teachers say that reading is extremely important for students, they do it for  good reason. Reading can benefit you in many ways, improving your memory, concentration, and vocabulary. It can also boost your overall personal growth, helping you gain new knowledge, stimulating your creativity, and helping you fight stress.

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