If you also feel that you do not have so much time to read as you would like, there is a solution: the “fast reading”

I confess that Bill Gates gives me some healthy envy. Not just to have A current account which looks like a phone number with so many figures, but for its ability to Read more than 50 books a year. I have tried and it has been impossible for me. But Do not shoot the towel.

Scientific evidence revealsthat there is a balance point between the speed of reading and the ability to understand and retention of the content that is being read. However, with adequate practice, that balance can be improved by accelerating the reading speed without compromising Reading understanding.

Research Like those of the University of Guayaquil, they conclude that the reading speed can increase significantly with the practice and use of appropriate techniques. An average reader reads between 200 and 400 words per minute, while through rapid reading training, that speed can reach speeds of up to 1,000 or 1,700 words per minute.

Strike a balance

Fast reading is especially useful for processing long texts superficially, being useful for obtaining general ideas or punctual information. It is not recommended in contexts where a deep understanding, detailed analysis or memorization of the content is required, but when it comes to seeking specific information or in texts that address subjects of which previous knowledge is already had.

The main ones involved in a slow reading speed are:

• Subvocalization: It is the habit of mentally pronouncing the words that are read. That limits the reading speed since the visual image of the word that interprets the brain is vocalized as if you are reading aloud, undergoing the need to vocalize each of the words and not limit itself to the compression of it.
• Word reading by word: The global understanding of the text decreases.
• Regression: reread several times or have to search in the next line of text as it breaks the reading flow.
• Low concentration: It affects both speed and retention.

Quick Reading Techniques

Science reveals that this speed increase is not a magical process, but the result of the conscious training of eye movements, vocabulary expansion and the use of strategies to improve global understanding, and not only the amount of words read per minute.

1. Fragmentation

This technique is to avoid reading word by word and assimilating the Words by groups. For example, to start training, you can group the words of the phrases of two by two and increase the number progressively With practice.

At first it may be a bit strange, but the brain recognizes the words for its morphology, which explains, for example, that you Cberreo Pdeue Read Etse Txeto. If you read it Word A Word would cost you more than in block because a word contextualizes its adjacent.

This principle makes your view jump between words, not word in word during reading.

The usual thing is to start reading like this:
In-a-place-of-the-scan-of-whose-name-no-quiero-alleging

But with a little practice, we soon start reading like this:

ANDn a place-of the stain-of whose name-I do not want to remember

With proper training, the number of “pauses” is reduced:

In a place in the stain-of whose name I do not want to remember.

2. Use a visual guide

The rupture of the reading flow is one of the most frequent causes for reading the reading. This usually happens when you have difficulty finding the following text line. The solution: as simple as using the finger to indicate the start of the next text line or an equivalent visual guide.

On screens you can use the mouse pointer as a guide. If you prefer Read on mobiles or tablets, the edge the screen or any other reference can contribute to the view not to hesitate when looking for the next line and the reading inertia is maintained.

3. Be faster than voice

If when you read you listen to the words in your brain, you are not reading quick enough. As we have said before, this phenomenon is known as subvocalization.

To avoid this, it will be necessary to train the reading speed trying to read faster than that inner voice is able to vocalize. In doing so, it will be forcing the brain to prioritize visual processing instead of the “auditory” of your internal voice, thus improving the reading speed.

4. Infinite look

Like any other muscle, ocular muscles should also be exercised to improve reading speed. One way to improve your performance is to practice infinity to get a visual sweep of the most efficient text.

This technique consists in drawing the infinity symbol (∞) on the text block, so that the look runs in a more global way, not line by line, and improves the capture of words by blocks.

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