May You Live Long Life…By Reading

It was 2 years ago, there was a new study revealing that people aged over 50 who read books could live up to 2 years longer than those who don't read at all. Researchers at the Yale University School of Public Health conducted a survey on 3,635 people, and that was the result. The study was published in the September 2016 issue of the journal Social Science and Medicine.

2 years difference doesn't seem to make much difference though - whether you die at the age of 76 or 78...

Anyway that was that. Now there's been news from Japan. And artificial intelligence developed and owned by NHK (TV/Radio station equivalent to BBC for the UK) rediscovered that the most relevant factor to a long, healthy life was reading. (http://www.nhk.or.jp/lifestyle/article/detail/00692.html)

Japanese AI Says

NHK says that although Japan has the highest life expectancy of any country, their final 10 years or so are highly dependant on their family members or care workers. So the study is about 'healthy life expectancy'. The AI performed an analysis based on 600 x yes/no questions answered by some 410,000 people aged over 65 in the past ten years. Firstly it focused on around 180,000 unique combinations of 'healthful' answers,  for example;

• People who answered yes to "I go out walking daily + I like gardening + I like reading + I laugh a lot"
• People who answered yes to "I go out walking daily + I like reading + I cook regularly + I do my own weekly shopping"
• .....and so on, 180,000 varieties.

What the AI discovered was that people who like reading are the ones who also said yes to the largest number of other healthful statements such as "I regularly attend a yoga class" "I like having fun with friends", but yes to the least number of pessimistic statements such as "I often feel I've had enough of my life" "I'm losing interest in society in general" etc.

Bookworms Are Not Slobs

It means broadly speaking, senior people who go out for a walk daily are not necessarily good in health, but those who like reading are most likely.

You might argue that reading is nothing to do is physical health, exercising and diet are much more important. But the fact is, people who read are most likely to take care of themselves very well.

So NHK did not just to reconfirm what we'd already known (i.e. bookworms could live a few years longer for no apparent reason). Bookworms don't just read and stuff their face with chips and cakes all day. They proactively seek to maintain a healthy lifestyle!

Thought-Provoking Resources

It kind of makes sense though. Being in the latter stage of life, I know indulgence is a killer. A lot of fun stuff is no longer inspiring, but can simply rot my brain. Like game consoles. Clubbing. Whereas books motivate me like nothing else. They expand my imagination and improve the way I see things. Books can persuade me to take action - visit new places, buy things that I was never interested in before, and of course, discuss with my friends about what we're reading right now.

Think about it, you absorb a lot more sustainable information from a book, you know. You get to learn about the author. You visualise scenarios by using your own imagination and learn the psychology behind the story. You don't receive the same effect from TV programmes or newspaper articles. Not quite the same. You gain knowledge from books, knowledge is power, and the power provides physical and mental health.