8 Life-Changing Benefits Of Reading 30 Minutes a Day
30 minutes reading seems insignificant, but it has a greater impact on your life
How much time do you spend reading?
Is it 10 minutes or one hour?
According to a study conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2017, an average American spends 16.8 minutes reading per day.
In a whole day of 24 hours, 16.8 minutes is too insignificant to allocate for reading. Still, it is far better than non-reading.
Even at this speed, one can finish a book in 80 days approximately. But it will largely benefit us if we double the reading time per day. If you spend 30 minutes reading per day, you will read 10 to 11 books per year. And that’s a good milestone you can set for yourself.
One can’t count the benefits reading can provide neither one can deny it. Reading improves your mind, regulate your health, saves you from mental disease such as Alzheimer’s, and most of all, reading improves your sleep pattern. There are many other benefits of reading that you can get without knowing.
And if I told you that you can get all these benefits just by spending 30 minutes a day, won’t you consider it? Here are the 8 life-changing benefits of reading 30 minutes a day.
1. Reading Increase Your Intelligence
Well, I am not a medical guy, but I have experienced it myself. I am telling you of myself. Reading has improved my intelligence a lot. When I talk to someone or discuss some topics, or even teach to my students in the classroom, reading has always helped me.
It happens that whenever I discuss something philosophical, religious, or poetical, or any societal issue with someone; a quote, a verse, or an idea pops up in my mind from the things I have read that enrich my conversations.
It happens to everyone. You suddenly remember a verse, a phrase, or an idea if someone discusses something in front of you. Something pops up in your mind.
You remember it because our mind process information through electronic signals and things once read or heard readily come to mind. Your mind clicks a similar idea always.
2. Reading Makes You Empathic
Reading exposes you to diverse characters and situations of life. Whether fiction or non-fiction, writing always reflects someone’s personal experiences. A writer cannot escape his personality.
But readers are also vulnerable to get affected by those characters and events. Once you read something, it becomes part of your subconscious. Reading makes your perceptions about different things.
We feel the pain of the characters and fear the situations they face. This is because we can identify ourselves with the characters in the books. We love, admire, or pity them. We enjoy or dread the situations characters are involved in.
We empathize with characters, and this sense of empathy expands to our real life. Reading gives us the insight to understand life and others more. It makes our ability stronger to get into others’ shoes.
So, empathy makes you interact with the world deeper because you don’t remain the same ordinary person after reading. It improves your communication and perspectives of the world. Because reading offers us a lot of different perspectives.
3. Reading Improves Your Mood
Various studies have shown that reading is used in multiple therapies. It has healing power and helps you come out of your depression and anxieties. It cheers you up when you read.
Whenever I spend a few days without reading, I feel a change in my mood — a negative change. I feel like I have lost something. I feel emptiness and remain pensive most of the time. But whenever I read, I have found that my mood improves a lot. It provides me a safe zone to forget all the random and crazy things in my life.
During reading, your mind is actively engaged in processing arguments and words to reach their deeper aspects. Reading regulates your emotions by invoking various feelings of pity, joy, and happiness in you. Thus, you go through a psychological purgation and improves your mood.
4. Reading Minimize Your Brain Decline
As your muscles need workouts and stretching to stay strong, your mind needs reading. I still remember a thought-provoking dialogue from the Game of Thrones Series when John Snow ( a heroic character in the series) once asked Tyrion Lannister (a dwarf character in the series):
John Snow: “Why do you read so much?”
Tyrion Lannister: “I have a realistic grasp of my own strengths and weaknesses. My mind is my weapon. My brother has his sword, King Robert has his Warhammer, and I have my mind and a mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone if it is to keep its edge. That’s why I read so much, Jon Snow.”
The comparison Tyrion had drawn between the mind and the sword is amazing. A sword, if not whet and left unused, gets rusted. Similarly, a mind not used declines with time.
So, if you want to keep your mind functioning for longer and stay strong, read. And a 30 minutes read a day can save you from a mental handicap.
5. Reading Provides With You Richer Social Connections
Reading 30 minutes a day positively affects your social connections. It gives you valuable insights into others’ psychologies. Additionally, it provides you with richer social links by exposing you to the like minds in society. As you have heard that birds of the same feathers flock together, if you are a reader, your friend’s circles and social connections will mostly comprise readers.
Reading will also enrich your vocabulary. People who can use a vast vocabulary in their conversations and are at ease in discussing almost any topic are admired by people. It raises your social status.
I have personally experienced these benefits. I grew up as a depressed child drawn to loneliness. I couldn’t talk with people, and speaking in front of gatherings was a herculean task for me. But I am a changed person now.
Due to the blessing of readings, I can talk in front of people. I can speak in a manner that a situation demands. I am no longer a depressed person who always thought pessimistically.
Reading changed my social life completely.
6. Reading Polishes the Writer in You
If you have raw talent for writing, you can polish it with practice. But without reading, you won’t know where you stand as a writer. Reading other great writers gives you diverse opportunities to grow as a prominent writer.
Almost all great writers suggest reading for improvement in writing. So, reading 30 minutes a day will also shine your skills in writing. That’s a huge benefit.
When you are reading other writers, regardless of fiction or non-fiction, you can pick up their style, use of grammar, and best vocabulary. This can help in your copywriting, content writing, fiction, and essays. When you read others, you learn from them.
I started my writing journey a half and a year ago. During my first days, I couldn’t write better. But with reading other writers and practicing writing, I am emerging as a good writer.
So, give 30 minutes of your time every day to reading and rise as a great writer.
7. Reading Gives You Better Career Opportunities
We all need money to sustain our lives. The more money you have, the better your life will be in affording material gains, at least. You have a better home, a good car, and financial security if you have a steady stream of income.
Reading not only makes you eligible to outshine others in government sector jobs, but you can also earn as a freelancer.
Online writing has a great sope. People earn thousands of dollars every month because they read a lot and transform those ideas into writing. They can become online teachers, writing trainers, content writers, copywriters, or fiction writers.
It depends on your nature which genre or fields suit you better. But in this modern times, we have far more opportunities than the people who lived in the previous century.
I am also doing my full-time job as well as I earn online as a freelance writer. I work for clients and publish my own stories and articles on various blogs. Writing has brought huge financial dividends. And this sense of security has improved my life a lot.
8. Reading Improves Your Sleep Pattern
We don’t need huge studies for this to know. In fact, if you read a good book for a while instead of surfing on your mobile phone before sleeping, you will see this benefit.
And If you habitually read books before sleeping, you already know that you sleep well. You can do this yourselves. Read a book for a week before sleeping, track your sleep improvement record, use your mobile phone before sleep, and then track your sleep pattern. You will find a huge difference in the quality of sleep.
A study has found that reading before bed improves insomnia and other sleep problems. The study also found that it reduces stress by 68% if you read before bedtime.
I suffered insomnia during my graduations because I would stay long staring at the laptop screen. Then my teacher advised me to try reading books before bedtime. Following the advice, I improved my sleep health a lot. Still, I read a few verses or a chapter from a book before sleeping. It has become a sort of ritual for me.
So, if you face insomnia or other sleep problems, try reading before bedtime for a few weeks, and you will realize that your sleep pattern is hugely improved.
The Bottom Line
Reading has the potential to change your life. Because reading materials are meant to change something in you. Books embody powerful spirits and thoughts that enliven the same confidence in you.
It doesn’t matter how much time you spend reading, neither I force you to read a lot. Read at your pace. Read with your comfort. But you should make it a priority to spend at least 30 minutes reading per day.
I spend more than 2 hours reading per day, and it has benefited me a lot. I want you to have the same benefits. I want humanity to grow, learn, and love. And books are a good source to realize those dreams.
