5 similarities between Exercise and Reading you never noticed

As per Sir Richard Steele, famous writer and politician, “Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body”. How true! Reading many a time is underrated but actually is a powerful trait if practiced regularly. Like exercise, reading too defines one’s lifestyle.

It is very fascinating to realize how similar is reading to exercise when observed deeply. Let’s take a look at a few similarities between Exercise and Reading.

1.   Burns fat – Yes it does and so does reading too but in this case thoughts replacing fat in mind. A good book has a power of changing the thoughts of a person. It can slay the negative thoughts and deeply rooted misconceptions with just a single wise line. History says there are people who influenced change in the world for good and for bad. And, often those historians are in turn largely influenced by powerful books. Thus, like exercise burns the fat, reading too burns positive/negative thoughts in the mind depending upon the book in hand.

Hint: Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler. It had generated as much influence as possible to trigger a world war and take millions of lives.

2.  Mood improviser – Studies have proved time and again that exercise helps in secreting feel good hormones in our body. These hormones not only support weight control but also control the stress levels. Ditto for the reading. During our childhood, it always the bedtime stories which often our moms used to read to us or we read to ourselves that uplifted our spirits. And, there are comic books that never fail to bring a smile on our face. Isn’t that Mood improviser?

Hint: The Adventures of Tintin by Georges Remi

3.  Confidence booster – With constant workout, eventually, we get to achieve our ideal shape or fitness and in the process our confidence levels ascend too. Book reading has also same effect on confidence factor. If this wasn’t true then there would not have been any self-help books. Autobiographies, Biographies, Memoirs, Wisdom literature, etc. boost our self-confidence just how workout does.  

Hint: How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

4.  It builds Muscles – Of course! With exercise you start building muscles for a better and toned shape. Whereas in field of literature, you read more and more to build your memory muscles. For muscle training, one requires to get trained with varying weights in sets of repetitions. Usually, memory trainers too burden their pupils with information load and make them reiterate the course to master the art of memory.

5.  Flexibility – Physical exercise and flexibility go hand in hand. You work out, you have flexibility; if you don’t, you are as stiff as a pole. In reading, the ratio is the more you read the more you realize. The pages of wisdom broaden your awareness sphere making you a progressive thinker. Your thought process becomes flexible enough to embrace any change in your life and society.

Hint: Enclyclopedia Britannica. Remember childhood?