The best reason for reading? Book lovers live longer, say scientists

Yale University led an ambitious study, which lasted for 12 years, regarding people’s reading habits and the effect that this activity has on their life and health. The participants were divided into three groups – those who read up to 30 minutes a day, those who read for longer than three and a half hours every week, and those who didn’t read at all. The study found that highly educated women with high incomes were the most avid readers.

Book readers lived an average of two years longer than those who did not read at all – with just half an hour a day lengthening life.

Also, a similar link between longevity and the reading of newspapers and magazines was found; this one had a weaker rate compared to books, as noted in the study, but was still positive. These findings were published in Social Science & Medicine. First, reading books promote the “slow, immersive process” of “deep reading”, a cognitive engagement that “occurs as the reader draws connections to other parts of the material, finds applications to the outside world, and asks questions about the content presented”.

She adds that the longevity remained the same even after several variables were adjusted, suggesting that reading books are, indeed, good for overall well-being. And on average, book readers lived for nearly two years more than non-readers. In fact, the more time a person spends reading, the less likely they are to die.

Children who have access to books, for instance, have been found to earn more as adults.

Compared with those who did not read books, those who read were 17 per cent less likely to die.

“In this sense we claim that books – like diamonds – are forever”. In other words, fervent readers lived up to two years longer than non-readers, and those benefits only improved along with an increase in time spent reading.