Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello again and
welcome to the first episode of
Tanisha's Reading Podcast.
This has been a passion projectof mine for many years and it's
finally come to pass, and it'sincredibly satisfying to finally
be here.
Well, for starts, why a readingpodcast?
Of all the podcasts to do, whyone about just reading?
(00:21):
As a daughter of a language artsteacher, reading was drilled
into me at a very young age.
Even in the summertime, my momwould get us up early in the
morning on the same time that wewould only be ready for school,
and she'd have a stack of booksand of reading things that we
had to do and we had to readthem.
We had to do summaries of them.
So, yeah, and that is actuallya habit that I continue to this
(00:45):
very day during the summer, Imake a list of all the books
that I want to read and I getthrough as many as I can.
And, yeah, I'm constantlyuploading and updating my
reading list with new books, alltypes of genres romance, horror
, mystery, murder mystery.
I'm actually getting more into,more into murder mystery.
Since I'm getting older, I'mgetting more cynical, but anyway
(01:06):
, but, yeah, but.
However, as I have been gettingolder, it's been harder to keep
up with the habit as Igraduated from high school, went
to college, got into theworkplace no day to day living,
it's kind of hard to find thosemoments when you just stop and
rest and find a little corner tosit in and just read.
So this past year that has beenone of my goals to get back
(01:29):
into that habit of reading and Imade it my mission to get back
into that reading habit.
Even if it's only 15 minutes aday, it's better than nothing,
because I've noticed that when Idon't actually read something
of fiction or whatnot, I am avery unpleasant person to be
around.
I'm cranky, I'm sad, I justdon't really like to be around
(01:52):
people.
And that's because I'm nottaking the time out to take care
of myself.
And honestly, I think that'ssomething that a lot of people
are dealing with nowadays.
And just in doing research andcoming up with this reading
podcast, I found out there areso many benefits to reading.
So the title of today's episodeis called the seven benefits of
(02:15):
reading.
So let's dive in.
Benefit number one readingcalms us down, literally.
There is research studies toprove that.
In 2009, the University ofSussex shows us that reading was
the best way to overcomeanxiety and stress.
In fact, it can decrease stressup to 68%.
Reading they show that was evenbetter than going for a walk or
(02:38):
listening to music.
So how they conducted theexperiment and proved this was
to monitor a participant's heartrate and tension and saw it
only took six minutes for thereaders to ease tension once
they began reading.
So next time you're stressedout, pick a book up and read.
(03:03):
So benefit number two books helpus tap into our imaginations,
and that impacts our day-to-daycreativity.
As we read, we are transportedinto different worlds where we
can soar above the clouds or digfor treasure in the deepest
caves, and in doing this,looking into the main
character's thought processgives us better critical
thinking skills andcommunication skills that we can
use in our day-to-day lives.
Which brings us to point numberthree.
(03:25):
Benefit number three Fiction,especially bodies of fiction,
increases our ability toempathize with others.
By investing in any fictionalcharacter makes us more readily
able to actively identify thosesame scenarios that they go
through in others, and also thishelps us to push past our
assumptions and also stereotypesthat we place upon others.
(03:48):
Benefit number four readinghelps with sleep.
I'm a person who suffers frombouts of insomnia where, no
matter how hard I try, I justcannot get to sleep.
Or if I do get to sleep, Ican't stay asleep.
But one thing that I havenoticed is that, you know,
oftentimes on nights, when I'mjust, you know, sitting in front
(04:14):
of the tv for long hours at atime and then trying to go to
sleep, I can't fall asleep.
But when I read a book, turnoff everything the cell phone,
the laptop, the tablet, the tvand just open up a good book and
read for like 15, 20 minutes, Ican put that book down, turn
off the lamp and go to sleep,fall asleep and I stay asleep.
And I think mainly that'sbecause when we watch TV it
(04:38):
gives our brain way too muchstimulation and thus makes it
harder to turn off stimulationand thus makes it harder to turn
off.
So that way, adding about 15-20minutes of reading to your
evening routine, that helps thebody to naturally de-stress, and
when we naturally de-stresswe're much better and easier to
fall asleep and stay asleep.
All right.
Benefit number five readingimproves our vocabulary.
(05:01):
One practice I like to do ishave a reading journal improves
our vocabulary.
One practice I like to do ishave a reading journal.
A reading journal is basicallysomething I like to have when
I'm reading Kind of simple, butyeah.
So basically it's a journalthat I write in notes and I'm
writing character plots and I'mwriting recurring themes and
motifs.
So that way I'm activelyreading is what I like to call
(05:24):
this.
So I'm taking what I'm readingand I'm putting it into use.
So that way it helps to improvemy just fuller understanding of
the text and what is reallyspeaking to me.
In future podcasts I willdefinitely go into more depth
about this, but for the sake ofthis benefit, how this aids in
improving our vocabulary is thatwhen I come across a word that
(05:46):
I'm not familiar with or I don'tknow, I go pause on the reading
, grab the dictionary, look upthe word, I write that word down
in my reading journal, I writethe definition of it in my
reading journal and then thatway I can go back to the text
like, okay, that's what thismeans and in doing so, that just
improves our overall vocabularyand just makes us more smarter,
(06:06):
which brings us to number six.
Reading strengthens the brain.
Seriously, reading is aconstant way to engage the
nerves in our brain, to improvememory concentration, and may
even help us live longer, whichis true, there is research
behind this as well, butactually on the very next
episode, episode two, I willdive into this further.
(06:32):
I'm going to do more researchand so that episode I'm going to
write the title for that one isgoing to be reading and the
brain.
So yeah, there has been so muchresearch and studies done on
this that that's a whole podcastby itself and it's truly
extraordinary.
So finally, benefit number seven, the last reason why reading is
a great form of self-carebecause it's just fun.
(06:52):
I mean, just personally, I lovereading and that's why I'm
doing a whole podcast on this.
That's why I buy books everyother week and I keep reading,
because I love it.
The euphoria I get when readingand just getting a new book,
it's everything to me, my wholeroom, right now that I'm looking
around.
That's why I'm recording thispodcast.
It's full of books that I'veread won't give away.
(07:13):
Don't ask me to not going to.
It's like part of my family,like I can't give that away.
And it's also full of booksthat I haven't read yet but I'm
going to read.
It's on the list and thenthere's a stack of books I just
bought that's being added to thelist, and the list just keeps
getting longer.
Yeah, all my friends, especiallywhen I was in college, all my
friends were going to the clubevery other week and I was going
(07:35):
to the bookstore and gettinganother book.
Yes, I was that girl that wheneveryone else was clubbing, I'm
like when my friends weredragging me to the club, I'd be
like I just want to go home andread a book.
I don't want to be out rightnow.
So, to recap, seven benefits ofreading Number one it reduces
(07:56):
stress.
Number two it taps intocreativity.
Number three gives us theability to empathize with others
.
Number four helps with sleep.
Five improves vocabulary.
Six strengthens our brains.
And seven it's just overall fun.
These benefits are the reasonswhy I wanted to create this
(08:19):
podcast, because I want tocreate something that guides
other people into making readinga daily habit.
You know this is for booklovers, or newfound book lovers,
to get into that habit, and inupcoming episodes,