READING AND WELLBEINGScience and strategies

with Nicola

Morganwww.nicolamorgan.com

More information

• Your handouts• My website (www.nicolamorgan.com)

– Today’s blog Handouts with hyperlinks This presentation

– Lots of free things– Teaching resources – discount code

• Free Brain Sane newsletter: wellbeing, brains, adolescence, stress, science of reading and learning, digital/online effects

This afternoon

1. How the brain reads2. What differences our choices make3. The science of reading as a route to

wellbeing performance– And how to encourage it

Brain “plasticity”

• Brain is “plastic” = anything we do changes it• “Use it or lose it” • When we do something a lot, we grow

relevant areas – (more connections)– London taxi driver study

• Grow areas at expense of others– Time spent and space available

• TIME spent on activity is crucial

What does reading do to our brain?

• Changes it – and therefore us• Not evolved to read (see Proust + the Squid)• We borrow from other areas:– Visual/perceptual/spatial– Linguistic– Cognitive– Motor

• So, time spent reading grows some networks at the expense of others

Have we damaged our brains?!Matthew H. Schneps:

An astrophysicist with dyslexia

Quotes from Scientific American Mind, Aug 19 2014

“The Advantages of Dyslexia”

Bet he canspell it, too

We’re reading 3x (?) as much as in 1980

But of what?1. More simple texts2. More non-fiction3. More online/screen

See THE ORGANIZED MIND by Daniel Levitin

1. Simple or complex?

• “Obscurantism” – remember more?• Research with Wordsworth + Shakespeare:– Remember/comprehend more– More brain activity in language areas AND

autobiographical memory AND emotion• Our brains like to be woken up?– If text looks hard, our brain prepares

2. Fiction or non-fiction?

• Should value all reading choices, but… • Might story be crucial to empathy?• Keith Oatley + Raymond Marr – – Such Stuff as Dreams (book)– Onfiction (blog)– Article referenced on your handout

• No! CAUTION re this research

Caution about this research

• Laboratory-based, measuring something hard to measure

• Doesn’t look at different types/quality of factual writing

• Crucial that children read – need to enjoy• Four words: Diary Of Anne Frank…

2. Digital or print?

2. Offline: ebook readers

• Evidence: digital may slightly impair comprehension + recall

• But research is ongoing and very specific– See New Scientist 29/10/2014 (handout)

• Some e-readers also bring distraction• Many find harder to find “engagement”?

Online

• Mostly information / factual• Shorter and shallower?• Faster? • Competition on page and in room– Decisions about links– Distractions

Suggested positives?

• Getting better skimming? (Probably)• Getting better at finding info? (Yes, but not

remembering. Might be OK?)• Better at avoiding distractions? (No) • Better at multi-tasking? (No)

Multi-tasking problems

• “Bandwidth” problems – capacity is c.120bps• Loss of focus and concentration – *• Attempt causes stress and overload• Lower performance on certain tasks – those

requiring concentration

Again, see The Organized Mind

Other negatives about online

• Exhausting; low-level anxiety• Can affect sleep• Poorer memory• More TIME online = less what? – Physical exercise – (good for brain)– Time to think and be creative– Time to rest or do nothing– Time for reading for pleasure, “engagement”

• “Just over 36% of the world’s population is projected to use a smartphone by 2018, up from about 10% in 2011.”

Source: Statista, The Statistics Portal

The answer is not reading more

Readaxation

Definition: “Reading to relax, as a conscious strategy for wellbeing and stress management. The aim is to feel and function well.”

Relaxation is not a luxury

Benefits of R4P – evidence!

Reading Agency Literature Review 2015: • Self-esteem; greater life satisfaction• Increased vocab and general knowledge• Increased empathy + self-understanding• Better mood + relationships• Reduced stress

How do we make it happen?

Victor Nell (1988) The psychology of reading for pleasure: Needs and gratifications. “Unless people experience reading as a pleasurable activity, they will stop reading and choose more enjoyable alternatives.”

Also see Nell’s book, Lost in a Book

“Motivational Flowchart”

A FLOWCHART!

1. Nell’s “Motivational Flowchart”

If Adequate skills + Correct book selection + Expectation of benefit => Will try pleasure reading If physiological + cognitive benefits ensue: more pleasure reading. If not, other activity.

Possible benefits• You feel less stressed• You can switch off from worries • Helps you get to sleep • Helps you understand other people better • Helps you face and understand difficult times • Helps you know more about the world – including facts • Improves imagination/creativity • Helps you succeed better at school • Increases vocabulary • Improves confidence and self-esteem

Use my Readaxation diary

• See handout

• Discuss relaxation/stress benefits with students: give them autonomy

2. Properly value it• Mantra: not luxury – affects performance• This pleasure has no negative and lots of

positive side-effects – know the evidence• Model reading pleasure ourselves• Is your school library the “heart of the

school”?– SoA campaign and award

3. Make time for it

How?

• SMT + teachers must be onside• DEAR, ERIC• Classroom boxes – subj teachers onside• Educate re sleep – digital switch-off before

bed time to read• Library as sanctuary

In summary

• Relaxation is not a luxury but necessary for health and wellbeing

• Readaxation is not the only way to relax but it is a perfect one, and science proves it