Reading for your health

(WDIV) As an adult, if you are not a frequent reader you aren’t alone.

According to one survey, one in four Americans say they haven’t read a book in the past year. That means many people are missing several large health benefits.

A 2016 Yale University study looked at more than 3,600 over a period of 12 years to determine the effect reading had on longevity.

The people were divided into three groups. One group read more than three and a half hours per week, another group read up to three and a half hours per week, and the final group did not read at all. The people who read books more than three and a half hours a week were 23 percent less likely to die at a given age compared to people who didn’t read at all. The group that read up to three and a half hours a week were 17 percent less likely to die.

In the study, people who read newspapers and magazines also had a better survival rate, but it wasn’t as good as the book readers, leading the researchers to conclude that it was partially the immersive nature of books that provided the additional advantage.

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