Every year on April 23rd, World Book Night brings people from all backgrounds together to celebrate books and reading. It's also a time to encourage adults to take the time and read at night.
What do you do with your free time? According to a recent survey, most people around the world spend their free time sleeping. Others use their free time to complete household chores or go shopping.
Some use it to volunteer. Many people also spend their free time hanging out with friends, listening to the radio, watching television, or looking at social media.
Sadly, not very many people spend this time reading. In some countries like the UK, only 69 percent of adults read during their free time. In the United States, individuals between the ages of 15 to 44 read l an average of 10 minutes a day.
What these people don't realize is the benefits they are missing out on.
Reading includes many surprising benefits, too:
Reading increases empathy, which helps to improve relationships with others.
It makes people feel more connected to a wider community.
Reading books reduces symptoms of depression and increases a sense of wellbeing.
It helps provide insight into the worldview of others.
It helps students to enlarge their vocabularies and perform better academically.
Reading provides a better understanding of one's own identity as well as the identity of others.
For those who love to read or want to read more, the good news is, there are so many great books from which to choose! Even better than that is you don't even have to buy a book.
Simply check out books from the library. There are also many websites, such as Open Library, that allow you to download free e-books.
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