Health Sparks

Posted by Marius Wlassak
Health & Medical
551 Pageviews
If your life were a novel, how long would it be?
If you’re a bookworm, you could be tacking on another chapter or two.
Reading may help you live a longer life, suggests a recent study published in Social Science and Medicine.
Researchers from Yale University evaluated the reading patterns of 3,635 people aged 50 and up. Participants were separated into three groups based on how much they read per week—3.5 hours or more, up to 3.5 hours, or not at all.
The results concluded that throughout a 12-year span, people who read books lived, on average, 23 months longer than those who didn’t.
How much participants read also affected their longevity. People who read more than 3.5 hours per week—just 30 minutes per day—were 23 percent less likely to die during the study than non-readers; those who read up to 3.5 hours per week were 17 percent less likely to die.
Newspapers and periodicals did not create the same effect, claim the authors of the study, Avni Bavishi, Martin Slade, and Becca Levy. They suggest this is likely because the mind is more engaged while reading a book.
To those 50 and older, the authors believe, books become a “survival advantage,” improving many cognitive processes that can lead to longevity, including vocabulary, concentration, critical thinking, and emotional intelligence.
Most importantly, Bavishi, Slade, and Levy conclude, “The benefits of reading books include a longer life in which to read them… The robustness of our findings suggests that reading books may not only introduce some interesting ideas and characters, it may also give more years of reading.”
In reviewing the chapters of your life, consider the approach of looking at each year of life as a level of accomplishment instead of a slow march to the end. At the higher levels, there is no resignation.
“If anything a detonation of defiance, with places to go, great foods to eat, tea to drink, very cool treasure books to read, and people to love,” we proclaim. “They are playing at a higher level—maybe not Level 80—but at a level that unlocks certain super powers not even imaginable by those living on lower levels.”
Think back to the lessons, discoveries, adventures, and quests you’ve experienced in your life. At which level were you living during each?
And, if you’re reading 30 minutes each day, what will you accomplish in your bonus levels?
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