Pastor Peter Marty is editor of The Christian Century. In each issue of the journal he writes the front page article, From the Editor Publisher. Typically his contribution is worth the price of the magazine. In the May 20, 202 issue he writes...
"...Sedentary living is normally not a recommended state of being for good health. Most sedentary behaviors create huge risk factors for mortality, especially in older adults. But a study by Yale University researchers several years ago showed a significant linkage between book reading and longevity. That’s right, reading books leads to cognitive benefits that positively impact greater survival rates. Published in the journal Social Science and Medicine, the research found that book readers averaged a two-year-longer life span than those who did not read at all.
The 3,635 individuals involved in the study, all over the age of 50 and tracked for an average of nearly ten years, were asked the question, “How many hours did you spend reading books last week?” Respondents were then divided up into three separate groups: those who read no books at all, those who read books for up to three and a half hours, and those who read more than that. Those in the middle category were 17 percent less likely to die than non-readers, and those who read most were 23 percent less likely.
The study accounted for the influence of comorbidities (cancer, heart disease, stroke, etc.) on reading or survival, and it made adjustments for the existing cognitive capacities of readers before the study. Still, regardless of wealth, marital status, job placement, sex, race, education, or even depression, older adults demonstrated the survival advantage of reading books.
According to researchers, two cognitive processes involved with book reading help create this advantage. First, there is the benefit of slow and immersive reading patterns that accompany “deep reading.” Second, books can promote empathy, social perception, and emotional intelligence.
Not included in this health study was Bob Crowe, a 95-year-old member of our Christian Century board of trustees. Bob and his wife, Liz, have hugely empathetic hearts and sharpness of intellect that most 45-year-olds only aspire to. For decades now, these two have been reading books out loud to each other every morning for an hour or more during breakfast. (Full disclosure: they also read the Century during these breakfast sessions, a variable that Yale researchers failed to consider when studying survival advantages from reading.)"
Quarantine has certainly been an opportunity for me to read. Perhaps it will lengthen my life if it keeps me off the street and away from COVID. Two of my friends, both readers and writers, have the practice of him reading to her every night at bedtime. May this lengthen their lives.
Takk for alt,
Al
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