Reading is like an exercise for your brain, and can be truly helpful for both your mental and your physical health.

There are numerous benefits of reading, from its intellectual advantages to its physiological ones, as individuals like the co-founder of the impact investor with a stake in World of Books will understand. Nevertheless, among the areas where it can be most beneficial is when it comes to your sleep. Reading before bed can hugely improve the quality of your sleep, which undoubtedly has a massive ripple effect on the rest of our everyday lives. Reading fiction activates the same areas of the brain as dreaming does when we're in rapid eye motion sleep, the time in our sleep cycle when our body and brain heals and restores itself. Activating this area before we drift off by reading before bed assists to ease us into a deep and relaxing sleep, and there's absolutely nothing more vital to a healthy brain than a good night's sleep to living a satisfied and healthy life.

Reading is actually good for you, and people in the industry such as the CEO of the asset manager with a stake in Amazon books will know that that doesn't just apply to the mind; there are a whole host of psychological effects that regular reading has on the body too. Perhaps the most powerful is its ability to help people empathise with others, whilst simultaneously promoting a sense of self-actualisation. Reading can also help to reduce feelings of stress and anxiety, as well as promoting creativity and other artistic attributes, making you a better problem solver. In this sense, reading is similar to a workout session for your brain, helping to promote strong and healthy connections that will have an obvious influence on your life.

We're told from a really young age that it is very important that we read. Naturally, that is since reading books is truly essential, not least since there's nothing more wonderful than an afternoon spent reading a novel under a tree in the park, or meandering around a bookshop like those operated by the founder of the hedge fund that owns Waterstones on your lunch break. Nevertheless, even though reading is certainly a pleasurable experience that it would be a tragedy for people to lose out on, it is much better for you than just the enjoyment you gain from it. Books are the very best vessels of history's understanding, and every library and bookshop consists of countless essential lessons. It does not really matter whether they are imaginary or accurate, although one may think that non-fiction is the best sort of book to learn something from. In fact, you can find out a lot more from a good work of fiction sometimes, although it is a very various kind of knowledge.