Want to Live Longer? Read a Book

Reading a book may not only make you smarter, it could also prolong your life.

A recent study from Yale University found people who read books had a 20 percent less chance of dying over the following 12 years, compared to people who didn't.

Researchers studied 3,635 people over the age of 50. The subjects were divided into three groups: those who didn't read books, those who read up to 3.5 hours a week, and those who read more than 3.5 hours a week.

The results? Book readers lived almost two years longer than the nonreaders.

"People who report as little as a half-hour a day of book reading had a significant survival advantage over those who did not read," The New York Times quoted the study's senior author, Becca R. Levy, a professor of epidemiology at Yale.

However, the same benefits did not apply to reading newspapers and magazines.

"We uncovered that this effect is likely because books engage the readers mind more – providing more cognitive benefit, and therefore increasing the lifespan," explained Avni Bavishi, one of the researchers behind the study.

The new study is published in the September issue of Social Science & Medicine.