Why reading is connected to longevity.
Albert Einstein once remarked that, “The only thing you absolutely have to know is the location of the library.” For many people, reading of all kinds is a lifelong source of pleasure and leisure. As a self-care activity, reading rates high on many men’s lists as a venture which promotes stillness, mindfulness and escapism.
Whole civilisations rose and fell due to the sacred texts contained within books, the invention of the Gutenberg’s press split Europe and altered society as we know it today.
According to Yahoo, global book sales in 2023 were estimated at $78 billion dollars, which is evidence enough of the continued demand for reading material across much of the world.
Can Reading Improve My Health?
Reading (particularly fiction) has health benefits across many life-stages. At its most foundational point, reading assists the development of literacy which can have the in-direct benefit of improving health literacy.
Reading with a child from as early as 6-months of age has been shown to improve parental warmth and sensitivity and a reduction in parental stress at 18-months.
An Australian study looking at 318 children in grade 3 at school, found that children who read for enjoyment reasons (both fiction and non-fiction) attained higher reading achievement. The same study also found that boys favoured reading fiction (compared to girls) which challenges the long-held belief that boys preferred non-fiction literature.
Research has showed that reading literature can enhance empathy in readers. The explanation for this may lie in the readers ability to feel the depths of emotions that characters in books express as well as understand contextual narratives from a range of different (characters) points of view.
William Styron, the American essayist once observed, “A good book should leave you….slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading it.”
Does Reading Make You Live Longer?
An interesting piece of research from the Health and Retirement Study examined the effect that reading had on the longevity of its 3635 study participants.
The results of this study showed that book reading was associated “with significantly greater survival” for regular readers. Over the course of this longitudinal research a 20% reduction in mortality was seen in those who read books, compared to those persons who did not read books.
People who only read periodicals (e.g. magazines), had greater longevity compared to those who did not read at all, but people who read books lived longer than those who either didn’t read at all or who only read periodicals.
By using mediation analysis, the authors of this study were able to conclude that the survival advantage that book readers developed was due to the positive effects book reading had on cognition.
Even more interesting were the findings that reading levels were not determined by a participants education level- as the protective effect of reading was seen in people from both higher and lower education levels backgrounds and across wealthier and disadvantaged socio-economic groups.
Study Conclusion
The study concluded by saying; ‘that those who read books for an average of 30 minutes per day – say, a chapter a day – showed a survival advantage, compared to those who did not read books’.
Expert Opinion: Christopher Cartwright, Author
It comes as no surprise to me that people who read books live longer, because no matter what your age, or physical ability, reading allows you to live and re-live an infinite number of lives.
Unlike watching a movie, a book takes time and effort to explore. It actively engages more parts of your brain than when you passively watch something. Some books take days or weeks to get through and can be enjoyed throughout an entire holiday allowing the ability to recollect a story with a holiday or other period in their life.
Stephen King once referred to good writing as a form of telepathy in which the writer imagines a place and an event. Those feelings, senses, and experiences placed on paper are read by someone who then experiences those places, events, and emotions.
