Here’s some good news for people who love to read. Reading books may add a couple more years to your life! That’s according to researchers at Yale University’s School of Public Health.

The researchers studied nearly 4‑thousand people over a span of 20 years. What the Yale team found was that older adults who were regular book readers lived an average of 2 years longer than their non-reading peers – or those who read only magazines and newspapers.

In the study, older adults who spent an average of 3-and-a-half hours reading books per week had a nearly 20% lower risk of dying over the next 12 years – compared to non-book-readers.

The Yale study also showed it doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor, male or female. The benefit of living longer was the same.

So what is it about book-lovers that boosts their longevity? Researchers say, because books are more in-depth, and the characters and plot are more involved, they engage the mind more than newspapers and magazines. That leads to cognitive benefits that positively affect longevity. The bottom line: Reading books prolongs your life!

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