Do you read for pleasure? It’s great, scientists say. It turns out that reading for pleasure strengthens memory in older people.
Reading is a good way to relax, it’s a pleasure, time for yourself. But there is another important reason why you should reach for your favorite books more often. A team of researchers at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology found that this could help preserve the memory ability we lose as our brains age. The work of the Illinois researchers was described in Frontiers in psychology.
How does reading affect the brain?
“Reading for pleasure that really engages you, is good for you, and helps develop the mental abilities that reading depends on,” said Liz Stein-Morrow, one of the study’s authors. One such ability is episodic memory. recall what happened in previous chapters and understand the ongoing story. Another ability is working memory, which allows you to effectively track the events that occurred in the previous paragraphs.
Both episodic and working memory tend to decline with age, but readers typically practice these skills in a variety of contexts.
Reading or word games? What is better for memory?
To test whether reading actually has a real impact on improving memory, the researchers conducted a study among older adults living in the area. The participants were divided into two groups: some read interesting books in their free time, while others played word games on mobile devices. At the same time, their progress and impressions were tracked by a special application.
In addition, cognitive skills were assessed at baseline, including working and episodic memory, as well as other verbal skills and reading only. After eight weeks—that’s how long the experiment lasted—they were tested again for these skills.
The results were undeniable: Compared to the word game group, the group that read the books for eight weeks showed a significant improvement in working memory and episodic memory. In other words, the study showed that regular active reading strengthens the memory of older people.
The causal relationship between reading and memory opens up several new possibilities for future treatments for conditions such as Alzheimer’s, the authors of the study said. Scientists are already planning more research, but the message is clear: Do you want to maintain mental performance as you age? Read books.
Source: Wprost
