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Picking up a book for half an hour may feel like simple downtime, but reading for pleasure appears to do more than just entertain us. Research suggests it can support aspects of cognition and wellbeing, while also helping us understand and connect with other people.

Reading for pleasure, also called “leisure reading” or “recreational reading”, means reading simply because we enjoy it rather than to achieve a particular practical goal.

Survey data suggest there may be benefits even among people who spend relatively little time reading. In one survey of more than 4,000 adults, 64% of regular readers reported strong empathy, compared with 61% of people who read rarely and 48% of non-readers. The same report found that people who read for just 30 minutes a week were more likely to report understanding other people’s feelings.

Another UK survey found that 41% of respondents said reading made them feel more connected to other people.

Reading involves a range of cognitive processes. A meta-analysis combining results from 40 brain-imaging studies found a common pattern of brain activity during reading in both children and adults, involving regions important for attention, recognising written words, and processing language. It also found differences between children and adults, reflecting changes in the brain systems involved in reading as we develop.

But reading reaches beyond recognising words on a page. It also engages our imagination. Research using brain imaging has found that reading fiction activates parts of the default mode network, a collection of interconnected brain regions involved in processes including imagining scenes and thinking about other people’s mental states.

The effect appears particularly interesting when fiction is rich in social content, requiring us to consider what characters might think, feel, or do. In this study, people who read fiction more frequently also performed better on tests of social cognition, our ability to understand other people’s thoughts and behaviour. Reading passages with greater social content furthermore produced greater activity in parts of the brain network involved in thinking about other people.

But the social work of stories did not begin with novels. Writing is relatively recent in human history, with fully developed writing systems dating back around 5,000–5,500 years, and widespread mass literacy arriving after the invention of the printing presses of the 1450s. Storytelling, however, long predates these inventions.

Research among Agta hunter-gatherers in the Philippines found that stories often communicated ideas about cooperation and social behaviour, and communities with skilled storytellers showed greater cooperation. Storytelling may therefore be central for people to explore how other people think and how social groups work, and likely has been throughout human evolution.

Those abilities remain useful. Understanding other people’s perspectives helps us navigate relationships and cooperate with people whose experiences and beliefs may differ from our own.

So how might we encourage reading for pleasure? For children, starting early may help.

The Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study is one of the largest long-term studies of brain development and child health in the US. Research involving more than 10,000 of its participants found that early reading for pleasure was associated with better cognitive performance, fewer mental-health and behavioural problems, and differences in brain regions involved in language and cognition.

But even if it has been years since you picked up a book for pleasure, there is no reason to think reading is only useful if the habit begins in childhood. Research across different stages of life suggests regular reading is associated with cognitive, emotional, and social benefits.

So pick something you actually want to read. The size, subject, and genre are less important than finding something that draws you in. You may find yourself immersed in another world, exploring the minds of other people while giving your own brain plenty to do.