Cambridge review links reading for pleasure to brain health — SkimNews
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- Barbara Sahakian at the University of Cambridge pooled evidence from five surveys and eight long-term studies—tens of thousands of participants in total—to assess the effects of reading for pleasure on the brain.
- Reading was linked to greater grey matter volume and stronger communication between brain regions, which the team says may build cognitive reserve against aging and damage.
- The review tied pleasure reading to reduced stress, greater empathy, enhanced wellbeing, and reduced loneliness, with fiction specifically helping the brain rehearse responses to life events.
- Children who began reading for pleasure early showed moderately larger brain surface areas in regions tied to emotional control, alongside better attention, memory, executive function, and academic achievement.
- Older adults who read for pleasure faced a lower risk of cognitive decline, the review found—a finding the authors note is especially relevant as youth mental health is worse today than decades ago.
- Falk Huettig of the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, who was not involved in the study, likened reading to a 'cognitive workout' and noted reading for pleasure has plummeted over the past 20 years, partly due to time spent on social media.
Why it matters: Children who started reading early showed larger brain regions tied to emotional control, while older adults who read faced a lower risk of cognitive decline—concrete neurological stakes in a habit that has cratered over 20 years as social media competes for attention time.
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