Can Reading Extend Your Life? Here’s What Science Says

by with No Comment Dating Tips, Guide and Advice


Key Takeaways

  • According to research, people who regularly read books may live longer than those who don’t.
  • It’s a great way to relax without getting information overload—plus, with a library card, it’s a pretty low-cost health intervention.
  • Grab that book you’ve been meaning to start. Your brain (and maybe your lifespan) will thank you for it.

As a kid, I was a major bookworm. But somewhere between university reading lists and the burnout of my early 20s, that spark fizzled out. Reading became something I should do, not something I actually looked forward to.

Lately, though, I’ve been slowly rekindling my love for books—no pun intended. So when I heard that reading might actually extend your life, my interest was fully piqued. Could this simple habit really help me live longer? 

“Reading is more than a pastime, it’s a powerful tool for cognitive health,” says Kathleen Jordan, MD and Chief Medical Officer of Midi Health—a longevity program designed specifically for women. “Mentally stimulating activities like reading, learning new skills, or doing puzzles help keep the brain active, reduce stress, and build resilience over time.”  

What the Science Says

In a widely cited 2016 study published in Social Science & Medicine, researchers from Yale followed 3,635 adults over the age of 50 for 12 years.

They found that participants who read books for 30 minutes or more a day lived an average of 23 months longer than non-readers—even after adjusting for variables like age, gender, education, and health. 

Interestingly, this life-extending benefit wasn’t as strong in those who only read newspapers or magazines. Books seemed to offer something uniquely protective, Dr. Jordan says.  

“When you sit down with a book, it often requires deeper concentration, more sustained focus, and more active engagement than flipping through shorter articles,” she explains. 

While it’s not completely clear why reading might improve your lifespan, there is plenty of other research connecting reading to overall health benefits—particularly for your brain and mental health.

How Reading Supports Brain Health

Reading could also help protect your brain function. 

“Activities that challenge the mind, like regular reading, are a valuable part of a brain-healthy routine,” says Dr. Jonathan Graff-Radford, a behavioral neurologist at Mayo Clinic and co-author of “Mayo Clinic on Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias, Revised and Updated.” 

“Large studies have found that people who read more often may have a lower risk of memory loss or cognitive decline as they age,” Graff-Radford explains.

This is because reading can help develop cognitive reserve, a mental “buffer” that allows the brain to better compensate for aging or injury. Cognitive reserve helps your brain function at a higher level, even if you experience age-related changes in brain health.  

Your Brain on Books

Plenty of research suggests that reading supports long-term brain health:

  • A 14-year longitudinal study of older adults revealed that frequent readers (those who read at least once a week) had a significantly lower risk of cognitive decline over the long term. This was true across 6-, 10-, and 14-year follow-ups.
  • A study in Neurology observed that elderly individuals who remained mentally active—through reading, writing letters, or playing games—developed Alzheimer’s disease about five years later than less cognitively active peers.  
  • A 2023 review found that older people with mild cognitive impairment benefit from cognitive stimulation programs (which can include reading, among other activities).

While interesting, these studies don’t tell us whether specific types of reading are better at promoting cognitive health. 

Emotional and Stress-Reduction Benefits

It’s pretty clear that stress can wreak havoc on your mental and physical health. Yet many of us struggle to find stress-reducing practices that are affordable, accessible, and effective.  

Reading books, however, can be all three. 

“There is some evidence that reading can reduce stress, and lower stress translates into less inflammation, which we know helps our health globally too,” Dr. Jordan says.  

Here’s how reading supports emotional well-being:

  • It encourages mindfulness. Reading slows you down and draws you into the present moment.
  • It may foster empathy. Immersing yourself in a character’s life broadens emotional awareness, according to research.
  • It could facilitate connection. Reading is often a solitary activity, but it can be a point of connection to others—for example, through book clubs, forums, libraries, and book launch events. A 2023 study looked at data from 19,821 middle-aged and older adults in 15 countries. The study concluded that reading and other mind-stimulating activities are associated with a lower risk of depression and loneliness.
  • It provides a healthy escape. Fiction, in particular, offers a low-stakes way to mentally “get away” without engaging in avoidance behaviors.
  • It’s a screen-free activity. If you’re struggling to cut down on doomscrolling or need to avoid screens before bed, a book is the perfect replacement.
  • It offers a sense of purpose and accomplishment, especially when finishing books or learning something new.

Tips to Make Reading a Daily Habit

In a world where our screens are always screaming for attention, it can be difficult to put down your phone and pick up a book. To make matters worse, a lot of us are overwhelmed with responsibilities, making it tricky to get into the habit of reading. 

Take it from someone who’s learning to rediscover her love of reading: Just a few intentional minutes each day can support long-term brain and body health. 

Here are some ways to start:

  • Set a simple goal. “A few minutes a day is enough to build the habit,” says Dr. Jordan. 10–20 minutes a day is a great starting point. Use a timer or app if needed.
  • Try habit-stacking. Read while you drink your morning coffee or on your commute. Personally, I love reading at bedtime to wind down. 
  • Always keep a book with you. This can help you sneak in a few pages while you wait in lines, eat your lunch, or take a break during your workday. 
  • Make it social. Join a book club (virtual or in-person) for accountability and connection. Apps like Goodreads or Storygraph can also inspire you to read more.
  • Take advantage of your local library. It’s the cheapest and most convenient way to read widely. 
  • Be consistent. As with all habits, consistency is key. “Small, regular doses of engagement add up over time to support brain health,” Dr. Jordan says. 

Don’t stress too much about finding the “right” books to read. “There is no clear evidence on which types of reading best support brain health, so people should simply read what they enjoy,” Graff-Radford suggests.

The best book is the one you’ll actually read. So if you’re struggling to get through “Middlemarch” or the latest romantasy novel that TikTok is obsessing over, that’s fine! Just head to the library and pick up something you actually think you’ll like. 

(Nobody’s actually ever finished “Middlemarch”, honestly.)


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ADHD Symptom Spotlight: Spacing Out

by with No Comment Dating Tips, Guide and Advice


Key Takeaways

  • Spacing out is common in people with ADHD and happens even when trying to focus.
  • Reading aloud or taking notes can help keep your mind from wandering.
  • Take breaks and do self-care if you are struggling to focus on a task.

Spacing out, zoning out, or blanking out are all ways to describe that experience of involuntarily losing your focus on a task. While attention fluctuates from moment to moment, even in neurotypical brains, people with ADHD are prone to spacing out often.

On some days, these episodes of inattention can last so long or happen so frequently that it is impossible to get work done. If they occur during class or in conversations with friends, they can also be seen as rude or lazy.

Spacing Out With ADHD

Spacing out refers to moments when your brain stops paying attention to external surroundings or tasks. It’s an involuntary process that happens even when you are actively trying to pay attention.

If you’ve ever started reading a book only to find yourself lost in thought or staring at the page without really seeing or comprehending the words, that was spacing out. Maybe you’ve experienced sitting in class and suddenly realizing that the teacher is talking about an entirely different topic, and you have no idea how they got there—because you spaced out for a few minutes without realizing it.

Sometimes, it takes the form of daydreaming, where your mind wanders off somewhere else without you really noticing that it’s happening. Other times, your brain goes blank. It simply tunes out without tuning into anything else.

Technically, spacing out like this is a form of dissociation—a coping mechanism in which your brain checks out from the present moment. However, spacing out from ADHD is a milder case that’s not necessarily linked to trauma.

In people without ADHD, it can happen during periods of sleep deprivation or stress. When you have ADHD, though, it happens frequently, even when you are well-rested and relaxed. In all cases, it’s completely involuntary. You don’t consciously decide to stop paying attention, and your brain switches off on its own.

Spacing out can become frustrating when you’re trying to study, finish a project for work, or even give your full, conscious attention to a friend as they tell you about their day. Any task that requires your attention becomes more challenging if you’re prone to spacing out often and without warning.

While it typically lasts for a few seconds or minutes before you realize you’ve stopped paying attention, it’s enough to make you miss your exit while driving, burn those cookies you were baking, or make your friend feel like you aren’t listening to them.

What Causes Spacing Out?

The human brain has an interconnected threefold system for focusing its attention that involves the dorsal attention network, the ventral attention network, and the default mode network.

  • The dorsal attention network (DAN) is responsible for goal-driven attention, which occurs when you consciously try to pay attention to a task (like reading a book) and filter out anything else unrelated to that task.  
  • Meanwhile, the ventral attention network (VAN) is responsible for stimulus-driven attention or keeping you passively aware of your surroundings to watch for unexpected stimuli that require you to reorient your attention (like hearing someone call your name while reading that book).
  • Finally, the default mode network (DMN) activates when the brain is not focused on an external task or the outside world. It takes over when you’re resting but also during self-reflection, memory retrieval, imagining the future or a fantasy world, and other tasks that are entirely internal and don’t rely on external stimuli.

The DMN is also impacted by trauma, which can present symptoms similar to characteristics of ADHD (even though ADHD is genetic and is not caused by trauma). Trauma plays a significant role in the DMN of those with ADHD since all marginalized folks (including neurodivergent folks) are more susceptible to trauma.

In a typical brain, the three networks interact but also maintain a respectful separation from each other. When activity levels in one network increase, they decrease in the others, and the quieter networks only interrupt when necessary. VAN won’t distract your attention from the book unless it detects a stimulus that might be relevant to you. DMN won’t kick into gear until it’s time to rest or internalize the information you’ve just read.

In ADHD brains, however, these networks may not be as distinct as they should be, making it hard to switch gears as efficiently as in neurotypical brains. Specifically, the ADHD brain struggles to deactivate the DMN and switch exclusively to DAN or VAN.

So even when actively trying to focus on a task, DMN levels remain high in the ADHD brain, making it easy to slip back into that daydream or resting mode. That slippage could feel like the involuntary spacing out or zoning out that people with ADHD experience so often.

How to Deal With Spacing Out

Taking better care of your overall health to keep your brain strong and well-rested is one of the best ways to help minimize how often you space out in the long run. You can also try these short-term strategies below to prevent or cope with it.

Make the Task More Active

Engaging more senses and muscles in a task can make it easier to stay focused without spacing out. When listening to someone talk, for example, summarize what they’re saying in your head rather than just passively listening to them. You can also practice nonverbal cues like nodding in response to what they’re saying.

Fidgeting during a task is a helpful coping strategy for those with ADHD who are completing tasks. It can minimize spacing out or disassociating.

If you keep spacing out while reading, try reading out loud. If that’s not enough, try reading aloud in an accent aside from your own. I sometimes read aloud in a horrible British or Australian accent, for example.

Take Notes

Taking notes goes hand in hand with making a task more active. When you take notes, you’re giving your hands something to do while engaging more of your brain to process and record what you’re hearing or reading.

For me, taking handwritten notes works best. I’ll even do it during casual conversations with friends—although only over the phone because, admittedly, I’d feel weird doing this in person. I also write notes in the margins of books, even when I am just reading them for fun.

For work, I take notes during every meeting and call. I take notes while interviewing sources, even when I’m already recording the interview. I take notes while researching articles (which might be the only area where extensive notetaking isn’t unusual).

Ask Clarifying Questions

With books, you can simply return to the last sentence you remember before your mind wanders. With people, on the other hand, it can get awkward if you’re constantly asking them to repeat what they just said. This is true even if the person knows you have ADHD and is aware that spacing out is part of that.

Instead, ask clarifying questions that probe for more details about what they’re telling you. Their responses will give you more context to work with if you space out again and need to reorient yourself. It might also trigger them to repeat some of the information you missed.

Take Breaks

If you’re spacing out so often that you can’t even make progress on the task, take a break. Putting the task or conversation on hold is better than restarting every few minutes. During that break, do some self-care activities like:

  • Take a nap
  • Eat a (healthy) snack
  • Go for a walk
  • Take a shower

Pick an activity that lets your brain rest while you do something to improve your health or well-being. That way, when you return to the task after the break, you’re coming to it in a better state than you were when you left.

Be Upfront About Your Spacing Out

Spacing out is part of having ADHD. While you can use different hacks to minimize how often and how long you space out, it might still be inevitable. Try being proactive by explaining this tendency to friends, family, and coworkers.

It’s easier for others to be patient and understanding when they know in advance that you aren’t just ignoring them or defiantly choosing not to listen. Supportive friends, partners, and family members will be understanding of your ADHD traits, including spacing out.

Keep in mind that it is a tendency of the ADHD brain and does not indicate that a person isn’t trying hard enough.

ADHD Symptom Spotlight is a series that dives deep into a hallmark or overlooked symptom of ADHD each week. This series is written by experts who also share their tips on managing these symptoms based on firsthand experience and research-backed insights.


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How to Cope When Your Partner Has a Chronic Illness

by with No Comment Dating Tips, Guide and Advice

Key Takeaways

  • Have open conversations about your needs and concerns to support your well-being.
  • Practice self-care to manage stress, feel happy, and stay productive.
  • Check in regularly with your partner to maintain a close connection.

Relationships can be challenging even when all parties involved are completely healthy. Add a chronic illness or debilitating condition into the mix, and it can feel nearly impossible to keep your relationship happy and emotionally healthy.

Being with a person who has a long-term health condition can not only be difficult, you can also lose sight of your own mental and emotional wellness as you tend to your partner’s needs.

Families are influential in managing chronic illness, and the situation often heavily impacts the mental health of loved ones. Ahead, learn how to successfully navigate a chronic health issue in your relationship while staying happy and whole.

Be Sure You’re Up for the Role

The way you structure your relationship with a chronically ill person depends on whether you were already with them when they were diagnosed or met someone who already had a known condition.

Either way, checking in with yourself about whether you can assume the role of both caretaker and partner will help you feel secure in knowing how to proceed with your relationship.

Meeting Someone With a Chronic Illness

If you meet someone you’re interested in dating seriously, and they reveal their long-term health condition, it’s crucial to understand how your role will change with them. Let your partner choose what personal information they want to disclose.

Asking someone endless questions about their health may feel invasive. Use their answers to discern if this is a relationship that you would be up for or not.

Dating someone with a chronic illness can come with challenges that you should recognize and address. Dating is difficult for the best of us, and chronically ill single people have to manage many additional factors into that already murky territory.

You may be doing a disservice to a potential partner if you decide to embark on a new journey together only to leave weeks or months into the relationship because their condition is too overwhelming for you.

If the initial discussions of someone’s health issues feel overwhelming, be honest with them and yourself.

A Partner Who Gets Diagnosed

For couples who have already been together a long time, especially for those who are married, it’s usually a given that if one person becomes ill, the other will take care of them. Marriage vows usually state “in sickness and in health” for precisely that reason. However, it is necessary for the partner of someone diagnosed with a serious condition to make sure they are invested enough in the relationship to see it through.

When a partner is diagnosed, a helpful way for couples to iron out issues as they arise is to try couples therapy together. Taking this step to honestly and openly talk about the future of your relationship will help ensure that you are comfortable taking on the role of partner to an ill person.

Being diagnosed with a chronic illness may increase the risk of divorce. A couples therapist may help lower this risk or support both of you if the relationship does dissolve.

Discuss Caretaking With Your Partner

When one person in a relationship has a chronic condition, their partner often takes on the caretaker role. For that to occur smoothly, here are key factors to discuss before the transition.

What Are Their Needs?

Your partner should clearly tell you their caretaking needs and their needs in the relationship. Illness changes the landscape of relationships, and your partner may be unenthused about you providing them with health care and support.

After all, much of personal care isn’t necessarily sexy or romantic, and it’s natural to worry about how that impacts the nature of your relationship together. When you are clear on everything they need from you, your relationship, and their own medical wellness, you can better figure out how to provide for them.

What Are Your Needs?

It’s vital to remember that there are two (or more) people in your relationship, and your needs are equally important. The shift of focus to a sick person can make this easy to forget, but you won’t be happy in a relationship if your needs aren’t met. Also, you won’t allow your partner to meet those needs without knowing and expressing them clearly.

If you have emotional, intellectual, or physical needs that your partner may be unable to meet, this is an opportunity to discuss how you can meet those needs to remain fulfilled as a person. This is particularly important with chronically ill partners due to how frequently the partners of ill people feel detached from their loved one.

Additionally, it is common for the care of someone with a chronic illness to weigh heavily on the mental wellness of partners, making it all the more necessary that you stay emotionally healthy and happy.

What Are Your Boundaries?

In addition to knowing and expressing your needs, you must also know and express your boundaries to successfully navigate a relationship with a chronically ill partner. If there are some personal care tasks you don’t think you could physically or emotionally do, be forthright about that from the start.

Your partner may need to find an additional source of home care, and it would be kind to help them in that search. Your boundaries can only be adhered to if you check in with yourself to discern them, then clearly state them to your partner.

The Importance of Continued Self-Care

Nothing is more key to caring well for others than caring well for yourself, too. There are idioms about how you can’t fill others’ cups if your own is empty for precisely that reason!

Because your partner will be busy managing living with their condition, it is your own task to set up and stick to your self-care regimen. If you feel comfortable, share your plans with them. It can be beneficial for connection and can help them feel relieved about your wellness.

How to Make Time for Yourself

Setting aside time for yourself in advance will help you stick to it in the moment. This is best discussed with a partner, especially if they need round-the-clock or frequent care in advance. Set a scheduled time for yourself as often as is feasible and viable for your situation.

Sticking to a self-care routine will not only make you a happier person, but it can also help you manage the stress of your relationship. Additionally, the act of regularly taking a break improves your productivity, helps clarify your thinking, and is beneficial for other forms of stress in your life.

Compile Self-Care Options

Now that you have a set schedule for self-care, you’ll want to compile a list of the things you like to do for that. Some self-care activity choices include a massage, seeing friends, or meditating.

Craft a list of what you like best and then schedule those activities into your life. By doing this, you can be assured relief is on the way, no matter how stressful or hectic things get.

Being open with your friends, practitioners, and loved ones about what you are experiencing in your relationship will make your self-care all the more advantageous.

Regular Check-Ins and Open Communication

Once you and your partner are clear about needs, boundaries, and self-care, it will serve your relationship well to check in regularly with one another about how everything is going.

Regular check-ins for yourself are also important. Your needs and self-care may need to be adjusted along the way. It is important for you to become aware of those needed changes before it starts to impact your relationship.

Changes may need to be made at points, and needs may evolve. Keeping a clear line of communication with your partner about how you are both doing, what is going well and what feels challenging will help you stay close through this difficult time.

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

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By Ariane Resnick, CNC

Ariane Resnick, CNC is a mental health writer, certified nutritionist, and wellness author who advocates for accessibility and inclusivity.


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