Do your daily reading habits center around tweets, Facebook updates, or the directions on your instant oatmeal packet? If you’re one of countless people who don’t make a habit of reading regularly, you might be missing out: reading has a significant number of benefits, here’s a list of 7 good reasons why you should read books every day:

1. Mental Stimulation

Studies have shown that staying mentally stimulated can slow the progress of (or possibly even prevent) Alzheimer’s and Dementia, since keeping your brain active and engaged prevents it from losing power. Just like any other muscle in the body, the brain requires exercise to keep it strong and healthy, so the phrase “use it or lose it” is particularly apt when it comes to your mind.

2. A workout for you brain

Your body needs movement. That means your brain needs movement, too. And I don’t mean it needs to be moved from your house to your workplace every morning, together with the rest of your body. Moving your head in space is not enough. All that is inside of it needs to be shaken a bit too. It has been proven that reading has a great effect on our brains. It’s demanding in the neurological way, requires concentration and intellectual activity.

3. Knowledge

Everything you read fills your head with new bits of information, and you never know when it might come in handy. The more knowledge you have, the better-equipped you are to tackle any challenge you’ll ever face. Additionally, here’s a bit of food for thought: should you ever find yourself in dire circumstances, remember that although you might lose everything else your job, your possessions, your money, even your health knowledge can never be taken from you.

4. Shaping personality

Personality is not something you are born and blessed or cursed with forever, till the end of your days. Yes, there are tendencies hard to get rid of, patterns being repeated, mistakes we just can’t help but making all over again. But can’t we, really? Through working on ourselves, we can change things. One of the methods is reading. According to studies made by researchers from University of Toronto, reading can change some personality traits.

5. Vocabulary Expansion

This goes with the above topic: the more you read, the more words you gain exposure to, and they’ll inevitably make their way into your everyday vocabulary. Being articulate and well-spoken is of great help in any profession, and knowing that you can speak to higher-ups with self-confidence can be an enormous boost to your self-esteem. It could even aid in your career, as those who are well-read, well-spoken, and knowledgeable on a variety of topics tend to get promotions more quickly (and more often) than those with smaller vocabularies and lack of awareness of literature, scientific breakthroughs, and global events.

6. Analytical skills

Analyzing the story, making an effort to understand the behavior of characters, trying to solve puzzles and uncover mysteries – all of that engages and develops your critical and analytical thinking.

7. Inspiration

Fictional characters can be a source of inspiration just like people met in the real life. You can learn from them, get influenced by their words and actions. Same with places, events and facts described in what you read. Let’s say you come across a book on Japanese culture or a novel with a main character who is a carpenter. Next day you might find yourself studying Japanese or making wooden chairs for your kitchen.