Books[/caption]Carol Forsloff —If you are a youth and don't like to read and consider it bothersome, then it's important to take a look at the long-range impact of your lack of involvement in reading. If you are one of those adults who protest lack of time to read anything, then this news is for you.
Dementia is one of those fast-rising issues around the world. Whereas diet and other factors surely play into this fact, active participation in learning has been found to slow down the rate of memory loss, where that is of the less insidious type that corresponds with the aging brain or the more feared variety, Alzheimer's disease, reading and learning is beneficial and helps nurture the brain over a lifetime. In fact, scientists tell us reading does improve memory.
A recent article in the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology quotes study author, Robert S. Wilson, Ph. D, with Rush University Medical Center who tells us: “Our study suggests that exercising your brain by taking part in activities such as these across a person’s lifetime, from childhood through old age, is important for brain health in old age,
Wilson and his colleagues administered memory and thinking tests of 294 people about their activities in reading and learning throughout life, then found after examining the brains of these people for signs of dementia, that those who had been active in mentally-challenging activities had far less of the physical signs of memory loss than did those who had not been active in that way. The rate of decline was 32 percent less in those who had frequent mental activity in their later years.
The Alzheimer's Association reminds us that dementia is a complex disease, so there are many things working together that can cause memory loss, including hereditary factors, diet, and overall lifestyle. Still at every stage of life it is an advantage to eat right, remain physically and mentally active, to ward off any type of disease in the declining years, including dementia, which negatively impacts most people over the age of 80 and which is now being seen as occurring earlier in life for many people. So reading becomes one of those activities that help in the reduction of risk, experts remind us.
