Reading a Physical Book is Essential!

A few days ago, I read a Japanese book titled 本を読むだけで脳は若返る (You Just Need to Read Books to Rejuvenate Your Brain), authored by Ryuta Kawashima, a medical doctor specializing in the field of neuroscience. Dr Kawashima is well known in Japan as the author of several workbooks for kids and adults for improving brain performance, and the developer of multiple best-selling brain-training games on the Nintendo DS game console.

I bought this book during my trip to Japan earlier this month, as I was curious to find out the effect that book-reading has on a person’s brain in comparison with using the smartphone for an extended period, like most people do nowadays. I, for one, am addicted to the smartphone and tablet, and clock up a substantial amount of screen time daily, from the moment I wake up in the morning till I go to bed at night.

This book has proven to be a very interesting read. As expected, Dr Kawashima argues that reading books, especially physical ones, confers substantial benefits to a person’s brain vis-à-vis staring at the smartphone, whether it’s for surfing SNS apps or for watching videos on YouTube or Netflix.

That argument is already expected, as spending time on the smartphone is widely regarded as the 21st century equivalent of watching the idiot box, a.k.a. television, while sitting on the couch. However, what’s remarkable about this book is that Dr Kawashima presents several images from MRI scanning, demonstrating that when the test subject is reading a book, a much more extensive area of his brain is activated than when he is using the smartphone, clearly visible in the form of increased blood flow.

According to Dr Kawashima, this phenomenon is observable regardless of what type of book the test subject is reading, be it an academic work or a light novel, as long as it’s text-based, rather than something containing large amounts of imagery, such as pictorial magazines or comic books.

Furthermore, even if you’re watching a video on an academic subject or an exciting movie, it activates a less extensive area of the brain compared to when you’re reading a book. This led Dr Kawashima to conclude that video tutorials, while seemingly better able to impart knowledge to viewers, are probably less effective than text-based learning.

Dr Kawashima surmises that reading something entirely text-based forces you to engage various parts of the brain to have a mental image of what’s being discussed in a book; on the other hand, if you are aided by imagery and sound, like when you are watching a YouTube video, it enables you to leave a large swath of your brain in a relaxed or even inactive state, resulting in much less engagement of your brain muscles.

Some people might argue in defense of the smartphone that, since reading text-based material is good for your brain, you can just read an e-book on your mobile device to reap the same benefits as if you’re reading a physical book. While this appears to be a valid point, Dr Kawashima states that reading an e-book on your phone subjects you to far more disruptions and temptations that can divert and drain your attention, due to the constant connectivity to the Internet. Therefore, if you want to train your brain more effectively, reading a physical book is still a better option than an e-book.

Another interesting point that Dr Kawashima puts forth is the benefits of reading aloud. Although most people are used to reading silently, reading aloud can activate an even wider area of your brain, improving your overall cognitive performance. He cites the results of an experiment where the test subjects showed improved memory skills after performing read-aloud exercises over several days. Presented with this evidence, I am seriously considering making it a habit to read aloud a few passages from a book every day.

We’re living in an age where the smartphone plays an indispensable role in our lives. While it’s important to embrace and reap the benefits of modern technology, we also need to beware of the risk it presents. To preserve my ability to think, I’ll always remember to pick up a physical book to read and train my mind.