What is an efficient way to check for a palindrome using Python logic?

Python
#1

I am trying to implement a function that determines whether a given string is a palindrome or not. A palindrome is a word, phrase, number, or other sequence of characters that reads the same backward as forward.

Here is an example of my current approach:

def is_palindrome(word):
    reverse_word = word[::-1]
    if word == reverse_word:
        return True
    else:
        return False

While this code seems to work fine for small inputs, I am concerned about its efficiency for larger strings. I would like to know if there is a more efficient or optimized approach to check for palindromes in Python.

Additionally, I am open to any suggestions or alternative solutions that might improve the performance or readability of my code.

If anyone has insights, suggestions, or code examples to share, please let me know. Thank you!