Page 46 - April 2017 Life In Naplles Magazine

DOCTOR’S CORNER

READING

WILL ADD

YEARS TO YOUR

LIFE

by Allen Weiss, MD, MBA, FACP, FACR
President and CEO, NCH Healthcare System
A chapter a day: association of book reading with resources to experience all the adventures we read about in books.

As authors develop characters and unearth plots, engaged readers
longevity is the title of a short communication
from the Yale University School of Public Health,
become active participants, not just passive observers. And if they
showing those who read books live twenty-three
let their imaginations run a little wild, the readers can be part of the
months longer. Reading books stimulates two
like the heroes and heroines, brandishing swords or donning fancy
cognitive processes according to the authors, Avni Bavishi, stories. Consider children old enough to read on their own, dressing
Martin Slade, and Becca Levy. costumes.
The first is cognitive engagement called “deep reading” that Yale researchers asked 3,635 participants from a University of
stimulates the reader to draw connections to other parts of the Michigan Health and Retirement Survey, a longitudinal and nationally
written material, surrounding environment, and life experiences. representative sample of people over the age of 50 in a biennial
Questioning, interacting, and assimilating the content deepen telephone survey started in 1992, two questions:
this cognitive engagement, explaining why vocabulary, reasoning,
concentration, and critical thinking skills improve by exposure 1. How many hours did you actually spend reading books last week?
to books.
The second cognitive process strengthened by reading is How many hours did you actually spend reading newspapers or
2.
emotional intelligence. We don’t have the ability, time, or magazines last week?

46 Life in Naples | April 2017