This Much Reading May Reduce Dementia Risk

In his book How To Prevent Dementia, neurologist Dr Richard Restak extolled the virtues of reading fiction. 

“Cognitive reserve theory refers to the representation stored within the brain of the knowledge, experience, and life events that accumulate during the course of a person’s lifetime,” he wrote. 

This “reserve,” he argues, acts as a sort of ballast against dementia – and in his words, “Reading for pleasure is perhaps the single most effective activity you can engage in for increasing cognitive reserve.” 

No wonder, then, that a 14-year longitudinal study found “a reduced risk of cognitive decline” among people who read more frequently.

How much reading does it take to lower dementia risk?

In this paper, more seemed to be better. 

Though reading was generally “protective” of cognitive function in older age, among these participants, “a reduced risk of cognitive decline was observed among older people with higher reading frequencies versus lower ones”.

In this case, a higher reading frequency was classed as reading “twice or more a week”. 

And though this was not proven in the study, the scientists added, “We speculate that those with reading habits may read more than an hour a day” – ie every reading session they engaged in lasted more than an hour. 

The reduced dementia risk was observed at six, 10, and 14-year follow-up intervals, and applied to participants regardless of education level.  

“In conclusion, the current study presents the evidence that more engagement in reading independently predicted a reduced risk of cognitive decline in later life,” the author wrote. 

Reading may counterbalance the cognitive risks linked to a lower education level

A lower level of education has been linked to an increased dementia risk.

Not only did this paper find that reading lowered dementia risk regardless of educational background, though, but a 2022 review found that reading more can help to “compensate” for the cognitive health disadvantages of less education. 

“Reading activities help to maintain and improve cognitive function in people with low levels of education,” it found. 

Well, looks like it’s time to update my library card...