Reading books is tied to a longer life, according to a new report. Researchers used data on 3,635 people over 50 participating in a larger health study who had answered questions about reading. The scientists divided the sample into three groups: those who read no books, those who read books up to 3.5 hours a week, and those who read books more than 3.5 hours.
The study, in Social Science & Medicine, found that book readers tended to be female, college-educated and in higher income groups. So researchers controlled for those factors, as well as age, race, self-reported health, depression, employment and marital status.
Compared with those who did not read books, those who read for up to 3.5 hours a week were 17% less likely to die over 12 years of follow up, and those who read more than that were 23% less likely to die. Book readers lived an average of almost two years longer than those who did not read at all.
They found a similar, but weaker, association among those who read newspapers and periodicals. “People who report as little as a half-hour a day of book reading had a significant survival advantage over those who did not read,” said the senior author, Becca R Levy, a professor of epidemiology at Yale University.
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