5 ways reading benefits your brain health for over 65s
5 ways reading benefits your brain health for over 65s
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Cognitive thinking abilities, such as planning and organising, remembering, making decisions and more, all affect how well we do everyday tasks, and whether we can live independently or not. However, as we age, changes in these abilities are common, which may impact the speed of how we find words and recall names, cause problems with multitasking, and lead to a decrease in the ability to pay attention.
“This is why we are having more Alzheimer’s and dementia cases than before, because our bodies tend to live longer, and our brains are basically not keeping up,” he says. Javadi says that simply taking up the act of reading can be one of the best ways to keep your brain healthy.
But what other benefits are there to reading for those over the age of 65?. Preventing cognitive decline. “Repeated stimulation of neuron connections through acts such as reading strengthens synaptic connections. You can form new synapses and prune unnecessary ones,” says Sinclair.
“You can also get remapping where, if there is some damage in your brain, undamaged areas can start taking over the functions of damaged ones. Therefore you start to see improvement of what we call fluid cognition.”. “This means the abilities that allow us to problem solve, plan and operate in the modern world, will all improve.”.
Stress reduction. However, Sinclair says reading helps you to wind down and destress. “We are all obsessed with our phones, so having the opportunity to just create a bit of a wind-down routine and also activate your brain in such a way that is more relaxing, just helps you with things like stress.”.
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