By: Jennifer Beach, LSW, MA, C-SWCM
We are all aware of the amazing benefits that technology has brought us, from our smart devices to YouTube. We can access endless information in seconds, and we don’t even have to read. Everything now seems to be in video format, allowing us to simply watch. There are countless debates and arguments on both the benefits and challenges of watching content versus reading.
Overall, the short answer is that reading is a lot better than watching TV and videos, in more ways than you can imagine. Some of the benefits of reading:
- Reading has a positive effect on our mental health, while watching TV has the exact opposite effect. Reading can reduce stress, lower blood pressure, and ease our heart rate and muscle tension.
- Reading not only provides knowledge but also has a healing effect on our mental state.
- Based on a study of 3,635 people aged 50 or older, those who spent time buried in a book survived almost two years longer on average than those who didn’t. (Social Science and Medicine 2016)
- The findings, reported by a team from Yale University’s School of Public Health, showed that the more people read, the more likely they were to live longer, and just 3.5 hours a week was enough to make a difference.
The list of benefits and studies supporting reading is extensive, what’s even more interesting is learning about the benefits of reading aloud to someone.
Japanese researchers in 2005 studied the effect of reading to oneself, reading aloud and solving arithmetic problems among 16 Alzheimer patients and 16 healthy people in a control group. The results of the study were published in the Journals of Gerontology. They reported, after only six months, those with Alzheimer’s showed a statistically significant functional improvement in their frontal cortex when compared with the control group.
The Alzheimer patients, either at the end of the study or later, showed:
- improved verbal communication with the nursing staff
- significantly higher scores for conceptualization
- significantly higher MMSE (Mini Mental Status Examination) performance than the control group at follow-up
- significantly higher score for independence at follow-up
This study and others tell us that reading aloud, whether to someone else or even to oneself, activates the frontal cortex and may have a role in helping to rehabilitate the cognitive functions of Alzheimer patients.
Tips for reading aloud to someone with dementia:
- Choose something you think might spark a particular memory – an old engagement announcement from a scrapbook, a long-saved letter or newspaper clipping from a meaningful event.
- A biography of a familiar entertainer, historic figure, political leader, or inventor may be of interest. Try some of the classics or religious passages, poems, or a hobby they do or did enjoy.
- A simple old birthday or anniversary card, a travel brochure or travel book – especially for places your listener has visited or is interested in.
- Allow the listener to participate. That could mean simply making room to reply to a comment, looking at any pictures in the book alongside the reader and/or sharing the job of reading aloud if they are able.
- Consider simpler story books if an individual with dementia can read and ask them to read to you.
In her book, The Enchanted Hour: The Miraculous Power of Reading Aloud in the Age of Distraction, author Meghan Cox Gurdon says that reading aloud to someone is “a miraculous alchemy…that converts the ordinary stuff of life – a book, a voice, a place to sit, a bit of time – into astonishing fuel for the heart, the mind, and the imagination.”
The next time you are heading to visit a loved one with dementia, chronic illness, or if you are simply trying to figure out something to do with a loved one or friend, be sure to bring a book or reading material along with you. Shut off the TV and electronics, and read a page or two, giving everyone a turn to read, if possible. You may be amazed how enjoyable and valuable reading aloud can be.
Original Article: https://www.northeastohioboomer.com/blogs/reading-reading-aloud-benefits-for-you-and-those-with-memory-challenges/