While not everyone can, reading while traveling is a great way to spend time, train your brain, and improve your cognition.
Written and verified by the psychologist GetPersonalGrowth.
Last update: 15 November 2021
Reading during a trip, more than a pleasure, can be a necessity. Rest your head on the window of a train or bus and immerse yourself in other worlds, in other lives. Oceans of words that allow us to shorten distances, detach ourselves from noise and routine to make sense of time and start our working days with a renewed spirit.
Ray Bradbury in one of his books stated that to avoid that reality destroys us we must read and write compulsively. It must be said, however, that it is not necessary to go to such extremes. Rather, it would be about giving life to an idea: which would undoubtedly allow us to create a better, more empathic, more sensitive and educated world.
Those who frequently use public transport and who are also good observers, will have already noticed a reality that has been with us for years now. The users who populate these means are of three types: those with a blank stare (and consequently in thoughts), as they wait to get off at their stop.
Those who immerse themselves deeply in the infinite universe of their cell phones. And, finally, the admirable and tireless readers, equipped with an electronic device or a traditional paper book, who take advantage of the travel time to read a few pages standing or, if they are lucky, sitting. The benefits of reading while traveling are truly immense. Let's see them in detail.
"To travel far, there is no better ship than a book."
-Emily Dickinson-
Reading while traveling: time dedicated to health, wisdom and quality
The image you see above is a painting by Augustus Leopold Egg. This artist had a short career due to untimely death, but acquired a notable fame for this work: The Traveling Companions (1862). A close friend of Charles Dickens, he left this fascinating and symbolic painting to the world that evokes the past and the future through the figures of two young passengers on a train.
The one on the left, asleep, with folded hands and a seascape in the background, represents the decadent Victorian middle class. In front of her, another young woman with a book in her hand is immersed in her reading.
She is sitting in the direction of the train (the other is from behind), ideally representing the other half of the Victorian middle class, where women are awakening and occupying positions of greater social importance. In the background we see a mountainous landscape in which an urban core can be glimpsed.
Few images are so representative of what reading can offer us. It can be summarized in a few words or even in any means of transport: progress, development, conquest of new horizons ...
Reading while traveling, another kind of immersion
You can read it anywhere, you know. It is not necessary to lie down in bed or sit on a sofa to enjoy a good book. Reading while traveling is a great way to use your time, to make moments of inactivity highly stimulating for the brain.
A study conducted by Dr Maja Djikic, a psychologist at the University of Toronto, states that reading offers a unique possibility to train and strengthen the brain. It is time invested in cognitive health in order to improve executive functions, reduce stress, and gain new knowledge to strengthen our cognitive skills.
The plot becomes more engaging
Reading while traveling is also useful for giving context to reading. There is no shortage of people who, for example, carry themed books with them when they embark on a journey. Nothing is more pleasant than looking up and finding yourself in front of the same countries, landscapes or contexts of the plot of a book.
Although it is not mandatory to visit the places described in the novels to experience the sensations that the author wishes to convey, often being outside the home puts us in contact with new elements: sounds, lights, faces, sensations ... These experiences make reading even more Interesting.
Improve your ability to concentrate
Not everyone can keep their focus on reading while traveling. Subways, trains or buses are not places that are characterized by the same calm that one breathes, for example, in a library. Urban realities are noisy, often annoying, and incredibly varied in terms of sounds.
It is interesting to know that those who are used to carrying out this activity in such conditions have developed excellent adaptive skills of concentration.
Such a sophisticated skill in reading, comprehension and going beyond reading itself - to visualize worlds and plots - represents a value applicable to any other field.
To conclude, it is worth noting what the experts said: it is never advisable to read when there is too much movement in the means of transport we are on. It is not good for our eyes. However, beyond this detail, it is always good to take a book with you when you go to work or when you go on a trip.
It's a wonderful way to make the most of your time, it's another ticket to a more fulfilling, exciting and productive means of transport. The only risk we face is that of making the wrong stop, the rest are only advantages.
