Why does reading prolong life? Opinion of scientists, psychologist and writer

What are you reading right now? To this question, most people start to remember at least something from the last thing they held in their hands. If earlier reading was always an honorable hobby, now many people underestimate books. Meanwhile, such a leisure activity can even prolong life. Why is it useful?

What scientists say

Scientists from Yale University conducted a large-scale research work that showed a strong link between reading books and longevity. Data from 3,635 people were studied.

Observing the respondents for 12 years showed that those who read books for up to 3.5 hours a week were 17 percent less likely to die than non-readers.

And those who engaged in more than 3.5 hours of reading per week had a 23 percent lower risk of death. The life expectancy of those who read averaged two years longer than those who did not read at all.

Another interesting study was conducted by scientists from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh (USA). The participants of the experiment studied for six months on a special program that included a large amount of reading.

At the end of the study period, the researchers found that the volume of white matter in the subjects increased. It provides interconnection between different parts of the nervous system. This, in turn, is responsible for coordinating all the work of our body.

The cure for stress

physician, psychosomatologist, neuropsychologist, specialist in working with anxiety.

Reading is a great and healthy way of escapism, an escape from reality, particularly from stress.

Everyone knows that stress can go into a chronic stage if it is not managed well. This, in turn, can negatively affect the psyche, internal organs (psychosomatics), and lead to reduced life expectancy due to disease and/or death. But this can be avoided by practicing the skill of relaxation.

One of the methods of relaxation is precisely reading. Sitting under a plaid, opening a work, we get into the literary world, allowing us to distract ourselves from stress and anxiety.

Spending time with an interesting book relaxes us, reduces heart rate and muscle tension.

The study, which scientists conducted in 2009 at the University of Sussex in the UK, showed that reading can reduce stress levels by up to 68 percent.

The experiment also found that immersing yourself in a fantasy world helps you calm down better and faster than listening to music and a cup of strong hot tea. And all because fictional reality is free from the stressful conditions that exist in everyday life.

6 reasons why reading prolongs life:

1. Reading for the brain is similar to the effects of exercise on the body. During this process, the brain is actively pumped: new neural connections are formed, thereby increasing their density, different images are created (work of imagination, visualization), memory, attention and other cognitive abilities are trained.
2. The pastime engages phonemic recognition, the ability to read fluently, quickly understand the text, the ability to think and process information.
3. Through this hobby, the neurological brain regions that work in gaining real-world experience are stimulated.
4. If you read every day, you can slow the decline in cognitive performance and keep your brain energized, thereby avoiding dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
5. People who are well-read have more developed critical thinking than those who don’t read. That is why those who read use logic in different situations, build their lives, relying on themselves, without resorting to magical thinking, the consequences of which can be deplorable.

journalist, writer

In the last 20 years, publishers have convinced writers that it’s not individual novels that sell best, but book series. Both in our country and abroad there are a lot of successful examples in different genres: “Harry Potter”, “Watchmen”, “A Song of Ice and Fire”, “Kamenskaya”, “Fandorin”, “Marmeladov the Detective”, “Twilight” and other love sagas. So what does this have to do with longevity?

Each new book in such series instantly becomes a bestseller, and so the authors do not stop, stitch and stitch, and the readers get hooked and eagerly await the continuation of the adventures of favorite characters.

So it turns out that if someone started reading the series, he will wait for the final book to find out the outcome. And then another year on the forums will argue why Bella chose a vampire and not a werewolf, and whether all the debts had time to pay the Lannisters (the rulers in the cycle of novels by George R. R. Martin).

Readers are stubborn people, and the more books with sequels they read, the more chances for longevity.

Not for nothing since childhood we were told that the best gift is a book! As it turned out, it is not only an informative pastime, but also useful for our health and longevity.