Mumbai: Reading for pleasure can improve mental health and cognitive performance at any age, while also helping reduce the risk of cognitive decline later in life, scientists at the University of Cambridge have found.
And what you read seems to matter less than whether you actually enjoy reading it.
Professor Barbara Sahakian and Christelle Langley, from Cambridge’s Department of Psychiatry, looked at research on reading across different stages of life. Their findings, published in the journal Psychological Medicine on Tuesday, suggest that reading for pleasure is linked to better attention and memory, lower stress, and improved mental wellbeing.
The benefits start early. One study the Cambridge academics cited, involving 10,243 young people in the US, found that children who started reading for pleasure earlier did better on cognitive tests and at school. They also had fewer mental health and behavioural problems, slept more, and spent less time on screens.
Brain scans from the same study showed differences in areas involved in cognition, language, and attention. But because studies like this show an association, they cannot establish that reading itself caused those differences.
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‘Never too late’
The Cambridge researchers also pointed to smaller studies that have tested what happens after people undergo reading programmes. In one, children with dyslexia showed increases in grey matter after eight weeks of reading training, suggesting that reading itself can produce changes in the brain.
The benefits seem to continue into adulthood. Reading has been linked to lower stress and greater empathy, while research among older adults has found that people who regularly read and take part in other mentally stimulating activities are less likely to develop cognitive impairment.
There are also benefits associated with reading in groups. Sahakian said book clubs and reading groups can help people feel less isolated, which may itself help reduce the risk of dementia.
And starting young is not essential. “It’s never too late to start,” Sahakian said. “It can bring benefits throughout our lives and into old age.”
Perhaps fittingly, the answer to too much screen time may not be another app. It may simply be a book.
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)