An unexpectedly large number of Romanians admit that they have never read a book in their life

Two Romanian scientists explained, through a study, what are the benefits of reading. Reading reduces stress and stimulates the brain, they say. According to a Eurostat study, Romanians read less than 5 minutes a day, and 35% admit that they have never read a book.

The researchers say that those who have learned to read have an increased volume of gray matter in several areas of the temporal and parietal lobes. They say that the visual word form area is a visual association area.

“It’s called the neural recycling hypothesis and it says that part of the visual circuits already specialized for object recognition re-specializes for word recognition when we learn to read,” says Simina Pițur, neuroscience researcher. “There are studies that suggest that in people who have never learned to read, this area is specialized for something else, for example, recognizing faces,” she adds.

According to a Eurostat study, if we refer to our country, Romanians read less than 5 minutes a day, and 35% of citizens admit that they have never read a book.

Sociologists say that technology is one of the reasons influencing this activity. “Before the revolution, I was doing very well, because I had nothing else to do. After the revolution, there was this explosion of stimuli coming from all directions, which distracted attention, and especially television, mass media and the Internet completely marginalized the reading of books”, says sociologist George Butunoiu.

Even if specialists say that literacy would change the relationship we have with spoken language, according to the study, 35% of young people honestly say that they have never read a book, and only 16% say that they read monthly. Specialists say that it only takes 6 minutes of reading a day to see radical changes in the brain or to reduce stress levels by 68%.