Every night before I went to bed, I used to watch television. Very quickly one episode would turn into three or four, and the before I knew it, I had stayed awake two hours later than I had intended. When I finally would turn the television off, my brain was still buzzing and it would take another 30 minutes to finally be relaxed enough to fall asleep. Recently I made the switch to reading before bed every night. I discovered that quite honestly, books are a lot better than tv. Here is why I know this:

1. Books do not have commercials

There is nothing more frustrating that having your show interrupted due to commercials. Even worse is when the same commercials are played on repeat. Not only are you annoyed that commercials are on, you are frustrated that you have to watch the same advertisements again and again. Thankfully, you will never come across a book that has a commercial. When reading you never have to experience a break in the suspense or action that leaves you annoyed and bored.

2. You can skip to the end of the book if you really want to.

When reading books with thick and juicy plots and you are just dying to know what happens, you always have the option to skim or skip to the end of the book. Just don't tell your English Language Arts professor! In a television show, you are totally dependent on the producer's schedule of revealing the resolution to the climax of the plot.

3. Books have more detail and background information.

When watching television, you normally are in a pretty passive state of mind so you don't always notice details like the weather or what characters are wearing. When reading you have an active mind and soak in all of these details to form a vivid mental image. Further, television shows are designed to fit in a 30 or 60-minute time slot so they often don't develop characters or plots as deeply as books can.

4. When reading you feel more connected to characters.

Since authors of books can be more detailed and create a more in-depth background of characters, you end up feeling much more connected. You see parts of yourself in character's traits and might even begin to love or hate certain characters. You begin to deeply care about what happens to them throughout the story. Most people will find they cry way more often when reading then when watching television. This is because you feel much more connected to the characters in books.

5. When reading, your brain is actively engaged.

Your brain has to do a lot more work when reading than when watching television. You have to read the words, follow the plot, make predictions, and so much more than just process a bright flashing light in front of you. When reading before bed, you will find that you get tired a lot more quickly and fall asleep much faster. Warning: An exception to this is when you are deep into a super interesting book, then you might end up staying up all night to read and find out what happens.

6. Books make you smarter.

I have never read a book that lowered my intelligence level. From textbooks to picture books to novels, reading makes you smarter. Although there are some television programs that are informational, there are a fair number of shows that I feel less intelligent after watching. Books keep my mind healthy and eager to learn.