A team at the University of Cambridge reviewed decades of research on reading and the brain and found links between reading for enjoyment and better thinking skills, reduced stress, and a lower risk of dementia.
The strongest evidence for older adults comes from studies that tracked people’s habits over many years. In one study of nearly 2,000 older adults in Taiwan, those over 64 who read at least once a week showed less decline in memory and thinking over 14 years, regardless of their level of schooling.
A study published this year points in the same direction. Researchers at Rush University in Chicago followed nearly 2,000 people with an average age of 80 for about 8 years. Those with the most reading, writing, and learning across their lives developed Alzheimer’s at an average age of 94, compared with 88 for those with the least.
Scientists think reading may help build up a protective cognitive reserve, a kind of spare capacity that helps the brain keep working as it ages. Less understood is whether taking up reading later in life brings the same benefit.
None of these studies can prove that reading itself protects the brain. The keenest readers may have more schooling or better health to thank for their habit. Meanwhile, there’s inherent inaccuracy when 80-year-olds recall their childhood reading activities.
Regardless, swapping some passive screen time (which, in excess, may actually be harmful to the brain) for reading aligns with cognitive health.
Reading doesn’t need to make you a more informed person to count, and you shouldn’t worry about abandoning a book you aren’t enjoying. Reading with grandchildren or joining a book club adds company, is linked to less loneliness in older adults.
The Rush researchers found that people who kept their minds busy across a whole lifetime enjoyed the most benefits. If you’ve already built up a lifetime of reading, that will provide a firm foundation for renewing the habit, so get back to it! Tonight could be a good night to switch off the TV, leave the phone in another room, scan your shelves for the top of a forgotten bookmark and pick up where you left off. |
