I think it's because when reading you're using that frontal lobe, you're forced to use your imagination to envision what is going on in the book, and that keeps your mind focused and active, and when it's focused and active, it's healthy which can lead to happiness. So I can understand why fiction would make you more effective in your every day life, as your mind is simply sharper from all the exercise its getting.
I wonder if fiction reading would help one with just regular visualization?
Films are a bit more passive because it's all laid out for you. You can still get caught up in the emotion of the story, but you don't have to use your imagination as much.
Inbetween are comics. I'm reading one now and it's a combination of film and fiction. You see still images but you have to imagine the movement from panel to panel. You see the dialogue but you have to imagine the voice and the emotion behind it.
But this all being said, it CAN become a form of escapism. Here's a question you may want to ask yourself:
In all the books you are reading, how often are the characters themselves sitting down and reading fiction?
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