You don’t have to be a writer to love the written word. Reading is its own reward.
The Joy of Reading a Good Book
If you’ve ever had bedtime stories read to you, you know what I mean. If you were the reader of said bedtime stories and saw imagination brought to light in a child’s eyes, you know. If you’ve ever read a book that made you shout out, cry over a character, or challenge your beliefs, if you’ve ever re-read a book simply because you loved it, you know all too well.
As it turns out, all that reading may be good for your health. Researchers from Yale University performed a study looking at the reading habits of more than 3,600 people over 12 years. They divided those participants into three groups: 1) non-readers, 2) people who read less than 3.5 hours per week, and 3) people who read more than 3.5 hours per week. They took into consideration what the study participants read, i.e., books vs. newspapers vs. magazines. They published their results in Social Science and Medicine in 2016.
Reading Books as Medicine
Personally, I do not think about reading in “doses”. For me, each line, page, and
I suppose you can think of reading as medicine, especially when you hear the study conclusions. Participants who read books over 3.5 hours a week lived 23 months longer than those who didn’t read at all. People that read books less than 3.5 hours a week lived 17 months longer. It didn’t matter whether they were men or women, how wealthy they were, what their education level was, or if they had underlying medical problems.
These results are quite astonishing when you consider that reading is a sedentary activity. We are bombarded with studies that warn us about the evils of a sedentary life. We are told that sitting too long at work hurts us, that we need to be more active, that exercise extends longevity. Who knew that sitting down to enjoy a good book every now and then could have such great health benefits?
The Benefits of Reading Books
It gets even more interesting. It turns out there is a difference between reading books and reading periodicals like newspapers and magazines. The survival advantage was greater for people who read …. drum roll, please … books. In fact, the researchers stated that “book readers experienced a 20% reduction in risk of mortality over the 12 years of follow up compared to non-book readers.”
Why would this be the case? Reading is reading, right? That may not be the case when you look closer. People tend to skim periodicals. If they do read them word for word, the subject matter is generally short and they are quick to move on. Reading books requires a deeper level of connection, both cognitively and emotionally.
When you read a book, you not only follow a plot and character development over hundreds of pages, you relate that story to the world around you and your own personal experiences. Taken a step further, you engage with those characters. Whether you empathize with them or outright disagree them, you come to understand them or at least relate to them on an emotional and social level. Reading a well-written story can change how you view the world. No wonder this kind of reading is so impactful.
Read on, friends, read on.
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