Reading is beautiful, but like any other mental act, it can cause great damage if not done properly.
There are some habits readers make that can terribly affect their health, and among these habits are:
1. Reading more than one book at the same time
Reading isn’t like watching a movie. In a movie, the visuals are there to help you effortlessly switch between up to 10 completely different genres of films at a go.
When reading, the visuals aren’t in the book; instead, your mind provides the visuals through imagery (mental reactions from works of art).
If you have many books to read, make a reading timetable. If your goal is to read 10 books in a month, make a schedule for them; read 2-3 books in a week, depending on their volume.
Reading books halfway and jumping into another can be detrimental to your health. So please stop, before you spoil your brain.
2. Reading with headphones on
A lot of people are guilty of this. There is a time for everything! How people are even able to understand the book they are reading while blasting their ears off to Ed Sheeran surprises me. It may have been working for you all these years, but it’s time to stop. You can’t simultaneously teleport your senses from the words in a book to the lyrics of a song. Having divided attention is the most unhealthy way to comprehend anything.
3. Speed reading
Some people are naturally fast readers, and they have the ability to read up to 20 books or more in a week, and understand their contents. However, there are others who, in a bid to test this out, would skip words and plunge right into the dialogues. The need to master speed-reading is understandable because it helps sharpen the mind and saves time; but enforcing this on yourself by skipping some paragraphs in a chapter you may consider ‘not interesting enough’ will stain your passion for reading in the long run.
You could get used to this ‘reading cheat’ and begin to adopt it in every book you read. And this is unfair to everything reading stands for. You should never skip a chapter, a paragraph or even a sentence. Every word in a book counts; breathe in the words and punctuation marks with your eyes.
4. Reading in bad light
Everyone knows the danger involved in reading with poor sources of light; yet, many people ignore the warnings. Reading with a candle, or under the shadow of a coloured light bulb, will strain your pupils, thereby causing great danger to your eyesight.
5. Abandoning a book
This isn’t really unhealthy, it’s just disrespectful to the writer. Please pick it up and finish it!
Speed reader and book abandoner seem to be my habit…
Thanks for this, concise and awesome.
I should improve on these areas.
Thanks for sharing, more ink to your golden pen
Quite frankly, this speaks to everyone who has a reading habit. No one, not one person isn’t guilty of one of these habits. Reading with headphones on, as unhealthy as it is, has been of great help to me over the years. Nonetheless, speaking about it is a great idea, as it’s not for everyone!
Cheers!!
Call it habit, I call it way if life, lol. I agree with the writer on many of the bad habits, but circumstances beyond control may hinder a reader from dropping an interesting book in bad lighting conditions. And about the 5th point, its gotta be worth my time to finish it.
I’m guilty of using earphones and reading. That needs to stop! ASAP!
Well written. I admire your writing style and the depth of your knowledge. Impressive. xx
Lol.im guilty of the second point..Nice write up though
True words. But for the last one, once I find a book boring or perhaps scary, I drop it.
simply helpful, rich and worth reading, thanks for such an article to enlighten us. looking forward to follow your posts and learn from you Martha keep it up
Lol… I am sure a speed reader and I love abandoning books . Everyone is guilty of one or two of this. This is sure helpful to everyone that reads.
It’s right, the points are real. The reading skills errors.