What does reading books do to your brain?
读书对你的大脑有什么影响？

获得6.6k好评的回答@Serena Nguyen：

Reading is food for the brain. Here are some ways our brain is altered:
阅读是精神食粮。以下是大脑所受的几点影响：

Rewires the brain: There was a study done in 2009 that showed that intense reading improvement instructions in young children can cause the brain to physically rewire itself.
大脑重新连接：2009年进行的一项研究表明青少年时期高强度的阅读提高训练能使大脑在结构上自我修复。

Improve attention span: We use our ‘working memory’ in our everyday life. Working memory refers to how we manipulate information stored in our short-term memory. Reading encourages us to think in sequence.
延长注意力集中时间：我们日常生活中利用的是工作记忆，指的是我们对储存在短期记忆中的信息的处理方法。阅读能鼓励我们持续思考。

May cause changes in resting-state connectivity of the brain: Books can transport you to into the mind of the protagonist. Sometimes, we feel like we are in their shoes and there are studies showing that there can be a long lasting effect on the biology of your brain.
可能会改变大脑静息状态时的连接方式：书能将你代入主角的思想。有时我们感觉好像身处其中，有研究表明这对大脑的生物性有长期持久的影响。

Improves memory: Reading every day can slow down late-life cognitive decline and keeps the brains healthier.
改善记忆：每天坚持阅读能减缓晚年认知能力下降的速度，使大脑更健康。

获得3.3k好评的回答@Umar Draz：

Reading book opens one's mind. As I do listen audio books while driving, walking and in my free time, from audible mobile app.
读书开拓思维。像我一样，开车、走路、空闲时都听手机应用软件中的有声读物。

I was totally a different person before studying books. Now I see everything from a different prospective.
研究书本之前我完全是另外一个样子。现在我看待一切事情的角度完全不一样了。

Simple, reading habit will make your mind to see things, problems and matters from up to down instead of parallel view.
很简单，阅读习惯能使你形成从上到下全方位看待事物、问题和情况的思维，而不只是平行的视角。

Reading/listening new book always creates a new WOW in me that how ignorant I was earlier.
阅读或听新书总会给我带来惊喜，让我认识到自己以前多么无知。

获得5.6k好评的回答@Parveen Bawa：

I totally agree with most of the previous answers regarding effects of reading on the brain. It is a pleasure to read books. With a good book in your hand or on iPAD, you will never grumble getting stuck at an airport. For seniors, who cannot move much, reading a variety of books keeps the brain occupied with a good story and some of the travel books open the world for them. Children should be encouraged to develop reading habit for fun. It increases their concentration and vocabulary, opens up their imagination and if they are asked to tell that story to others, it improves their memory, speech and narration. Books are good sources of discussion.
对于阅读对大脑的影响我完全赞同上面大多数回答。阅读是一种乐趣，手里或iPAD里有一本好书，你滞留机场也绝对不会抱怨。对不能过多走动的老年人来说，读各种书籍能使他们头脑里装满好故事，而且有些旅行书籍能为他们打开世界之门。应该鼓励孩子养成读书的习惯并从中获得乐趣，这能提高他们的专心程度和词汇量并激发想象力，如果要求他们向别人讲述那个故事，还能提高记忆力、语言表达和叙述能力，书是论述很好的来源。