How Reading Changes Your Brain (And What To Add To Your Reading List This Year) [INFOGRAPHIC] - Classy Career Girl

How Reading Changes Your Brain (And What To Add To Your Reading List This Year) [INFOGRAPHIC] Smartphones have given us many things to be grateful for. A convenient way to stay in touch with faraway relatives. Shopping on the go. Snapchat filters. But there’s a flipside. Thanks to smartphones, the average human attention span has fallen to eight seconds, one second behind that of a goldfish. The pitfalls of omnipresent technology are abundant. In addition to shorter attention spans, our ability to focus is decreased, our writing abilities are diminishing, and to top it all off, we’re collectively experiencing a constant panic attack thanks to FOMO and the stress of being constantly connected. Luckily, there’s a very simple remedy.  The following infographic, courtesy of Fundera, explores the favorite books of female entrepreneurs. Here are the ways that reading can improve your career prospects. [RELATED: Classy Career Girls 2018 Book Club] How Reading Changes Your Brain (And What To Add To Your Reading List This Year) 1. A Sharper Mind Studies have found that reading may help prevent Alzheimers disease. When we read, we stimulate areas of the brain that other methods of entertainment can’t touch. Researchers from Stanford University discovered that reading increases blood flow to different areas of the brain, and provides the brain with a workout. 2. Stress Relief Stress is part of a professional life. No matter how meticulous your planner, or how structured your day, you will have bad days and you will find yourself stressed at the end of the day. Instead of turning to a glass of wine and your favorite reality television show when you get home, pick up a book instead. A study from the University of Sussex found that reading can reduce stress by 68%. It should be noted that the researchers were examining people reading books and not newspapers! 3. Education Another study looked at the habits of ultra-successful people. While the wealthy executives studied had come from different backgrounds and found success in different markets, they all shared one thing in common â€" reading. Bill Gates reads one book a week, while Warren Buffett reads between 600 and 800 pages every day! Elon Musk once revealed that his education on space rockets came primarily from reading. While some entrepreneurs choose to read novels, the study found that business people were highly selective about their reading materials. Entrepreneurs preferred to read non-fiction and educational books, demonstrating a specific passion for autobiographies of other successful people. What To Read This Year â€" According To Successful Female Entrepreneurs While there are many lessons to learn from the bookshelves of successful men, there’s no doubt that being a female professional comes with a unique set of challenges. How to be the boss, without being perceived as being bossy? How do we successfully negotiate pay rises and navigate the wage gap? In 2017 especially, the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace drew the spotlight through the #MeToo movement on social media. Bumble founder and CEO, Whitney Wolfe, was originally one of the founders of Tinder until she left due to sexual harassment from her ex-boyfriend and coworker. She successfully sued Tinder for sexual harassment, before launching Bumble in 2014. Bumble was Wolfe’s solution to Tinder, letting women make the first move to avoid the slew of harassment that so often came with dating on Tinder. Wolfe recently revealed that her favorite book was Shantaram by David Gregory Roberts. “What it made me realize was no matter who you are in life, where you come from or where you live, everyone is fighting their own battle and everyone’s battle is equally important as the next,” she said.