If you read, you will live longer and better.

If you read, you'll live longer. And this isn't a threat, but scientific evidence. To be exact, you'll live 20% longer than people who don't read, a figure that is slightly lower for magazine and newspaper readers. study published in Social Science & Medicine, led by the University of Michigan, which links reading with longevity and has tracked the reading habits of more than 3,600 people over 50 years old in the United States for 12 years.

Most of the non-fiction readers in the study were fiction readers, and therefore, it is concluded that non-fiction is somewhat less advantageous. Fiction also has an extraordinary reward because it also makes us better citizens, as explored by an analysis published in Journal of Experimental Psychology, since it improves social skills such as empathy.

"When we read fiction, we are simulating the stories and experiences of the characters. This acts as a training and strengthening of our social skills, as we live emotional, mental, and social experiences that also occur in real life. In addition, it gives us valuable information about human psychology, social interaction, other countries, other Ventura, researcher at the Barcelona Brain Health Initiative (BBHI) of the Guttmann Institute, who has compiled cutting-edge research on the relationship between reading and brain health.

Reading, like any other cognitively stimulating activity, "such as writing, making music, or even starting a business," makes "the brain more efficient and has greater cognitive reserve, which is indirectly associated with longevity," adds BBHI researcher David Bartrés-Faz. Bartrés-Faz maintains that it's a matter of plasticity and resilience, two key skills that allow our brains to adapt to changes throughout life and that can be measured through neuroimaging.

These and other benefits of cognitive stimulation were explained by researchers and neuropsychologists from the Guttmann Institute at the Ateneu Barcelonès and the La Sagrera library, as part of the 60th anniversary of this organization dedicated to neurorehabilitation. The talks inevitably encourage the audience to pick up a book on the way out. Reading, they insist, "improves attention, concentration, memory and speech," but it "activates so many regions that it improves the overall state of the brain," Roca Ventura summarizes.

Reading, the elixir of youth

Cognitive stimulation helps prevent cognitive decline and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's. "By helping neurons live longer and connect better with each other, the brain manages to delay deterioration. And when it can no longer prevent it, it finds a way to compensate," argues Roca Ventura. Therefore, a reading brain "has a protective effect that lasts throughout a person's life and makes them perform better cognitively," affirms Bartrés-Faz. It is also "more efficient at tolerating injuries." The researcher emphasizes that this resilient capacity of the central nervous system to reorganize means that "with the same degree of brain damage from a pathology, fewer symptoms are manifested."

One of the scientific studies that established clear evidence on the impact of reading on aging was known as the study of nuns, published in Annals of Internal Medicine In 2006, the author, epidemiologist and professor of neurology at the University of Kentucky (USA), David Snowdon, conducted research at a convent in Minnesota, which he later expanded to include other convents, studying 678 participants. After scanning the brains of some of the most physically and mentally active nuns from those convents who had given their bodies to science upon dying, he found that, although some showed signs of Alzheimer's and dementia, they had not displayed any symptoms during the years of follow-up. This curious study even went so far as to demonstrate a relationship between the complexity of their writing style before arriving at the convent and the deterioration of their cognitive health in old age.

The sooner the better

To enjoy the cognitive benefits of reading, do you have to start during childhood, or is it never too late and can we start now? Scientific studies conducted on this topic conclude that illiterate people who learn to read and write later benefit from functional and structural changes in the brain. However, although Exposure to an enriched cognitive environment is positive and beneficial throughout life. "The greatest effect occurs at an early age, especially in adolescents and young adults, as this is a crucial period in which the brain is maturing," and this makes it "more resilient and better," says Bartrés-Faz.

It is not an easy knowledge to acquire. We see this with children learning, when they make a great effort to gradually connect phonemes and graphemes. Reading isn't a natural process like oral language.. "Since the first communication systems of hominids, some 5 or 6 million years ago, evolutionary pressure has favored the development of a highly specialized brain architecture for speech.

On the other hand, reading is a very recent invention in evolutionary terms: the first written systems appeared about 0 years ago. linking sounds with written symbols, are even more recent. It was not until the invention of the printing press, in the 15th century, that reading began to spread as a common practice," explains Roca Ventura.

"The brain isn't designed for reading. It has had to repurpose areas that had other functions," continues the BBHI researcher. The main brain area we use when we pick up a book is, curiously, the so-called visual word form area, which connects to the language network and also strengthens speech. Before learning to read, we used this area to recognize faces and objects, a function that in reading brains is transferred to the right hemisphere. This area is not limited to sighted people, as previously thought, but blind people also activate it when reading Braille, the experts explain.

This reorganization of brain functions, du Bartrés-Faz thought, meant that the brain would adapt to any scenario, even to artificial intelligence. When there was no GPS, a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences revealed that the brains of London taxi drivers had a much more developed area of the brain we use for spatial memory representation, the hippocampus, than the rest of the population. Has it stopped growing now that they use Google Maps? Will we stop developing the visual area for word forms if we compose emails with ChatGPT? "We'll use the navigation function for something else, "For example, entering the best route into the GPS or identifying the best option among available servers. Before, we didn't manage information. We stopped memorizing phone numbers. Do we have less memory? I don't think so. We use it for other functions," he concludes.

The habit of being well

Cognitive stimulation should be a healthy habit, just like physical exercise, nutrition, or socializing; but there's another factor that comes into play for a healthy brain. "Taking care of your mental health is taking care of your brain health," says Bartrés-Faz, who addresses an issue that is often not as obvious as it seems and to which he has dedicated his latest research. study published in Nature Mental Health identifies that "people with repetitive negative thoughts or those who don't feel they have a life plan, values, or a purpose that motivates them to get up every day have greater cognitive impairment and a higher risk of neurodegenerative diseases, such as dementia." Research conducted with 1,000 participants over the age of 60 shows that people with these psychological factors have lower performance on memory tests and greater atrophy in areas related to Alzheimer's.

The good news is that we can change it: "Just as you can change your diet, you can see a psychologist and have them help you change the way you perceive the world," the researcher suggests. Thus, "in addition to eating well, sleeping well, socializing, and exercising, you should ask yourself how you're feeling psychologically" to keep your mind in the best possible shape. And, of course, pick up a (good) book.