The love of reading not only helps maintain a person’s intellectual level of development, but can also increase life expectancy. The Exchange Leader publication provides details.
A long-term study by Yale University researchers showed that people who read books on a regular basis live on average a couple of years longer than those who do not like to read. The experiment that led to this conclusion involved 3.5 thousand people from around the world. The minimum age of the subjects was 50 years. They were all divided into three groups. This division took into account the level of involvement in the process of reading literature; in particular, the third group included people who devote more than three and a half hours to reading a week.
Observations of study participants for 12 years helped establish that people who prefer to sit with a book have lower mortality rates than others. (In addition, it turned out that the greatest fans of reading are women with higher education and a high level of income). During the years of the experiment, some of the subjects, given their advanced age, died. However, among those who love to read, mortality rates were recorded 23 percent lower than those who do not usually spend their free time with a book in their hands.
However, the reasons why reading prolongs life have not yet been established. According to many earlier studies, it was found that a number of aspects of a person’s life are influenced by the general level of education, in particular, we are talking about material well-being, mental health, personal life, and so on.
Intellectuals are lazier.
But researchers from the American Florida Gulf Coast University reported the results of their experiment on human laziness. It has been established that lazy people have greater intelligence than those who lead an active lifestyle.
Sixty students were selected to participate in the experiment and subsequently divided into two groups. They were all required to wear bracelets. Representatives of one group were active for a week - they moved around a lot and went to the gym. Representatives of the other group, on the contrary, did nothing. As it turned out when summing up the results of observations, lazy people tend to think more and engage in philosophical reflection. The researchers also recorded that representatives of the “active” group do not like to think a lot and expressed the conviction that their own strength is better spent on physical activity.
However, many scientists noted that drawing conclusions the way the researchers did is reckless, because lazy people do not necessarily have a high intellectual level.
After reading Kafka's Metamorphoses, Gabriel García Márquez decided: “I will become a writer.” Old man Hemingway was inspired by Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace. Books affect everyone differently, but do they help you live longer? This is the question asked by scientists at Yale University. And they conducted a study: they followed mature adults (50 years and older) for 12 years to establish a link between reading books and longevity. 3600 people took part in the experiment. The bottom line is this: book lovers live longer than non-readers. And it’s not a matter of wealth at all - scientists made adjustments for income, profession and level of education. What then? "KP" tried to understand this issue.
"Tighten your gyrus" stimulates blood circulation
If we worry about the hero of a book, the same happens to our brain. He gets excited and works harder. Moreover, if we read calmly and for pleasure, this is one effect. If we move on to analysis, critical perception of the text, it’s completely different. “Tightening the gyrus” while reading causes a sharp change in the types of nervous activity and even the nature of blood circulation. What does this mean? The neurons of the brain are actively loaded, which means Alzheimer’s will not get close.
There can be many connections between longevity and reading books, says neuropsychologist Ilya Pluzhnikov. - Classic fiction offers us patterns and patterns of behavior that help us cope with difficult life situations. People learn these methods, in some cases receiving what psychoanalysts call “catharsis”: while reading, they overcome current conflicts and problems. And they develop an adaptation resource. Unlike someone who does not read, a reading person develops a cognitive attitude towards the world - and does not perceive pseudo-stressful situations as stressful. This means that cortical-subcortical interactions of the brain are better formed. This is what can prevent the development of senile dementia. Literature helps us deal with stress correctly.
In other words: the more we read, the longer we maintain our sanity. And that means viability.
Regular reading of books is associated with a more responsible approach to lifestyle, says Doctor of Biological Sciences, gerontologist Alexey Moskalev. - This is a proven factor for longevity. People who read a lot are better educated and have higher incomes. They, as a rule, lead a healthy lifestyle, eat better, undergo preventive examinations, and seek medical help on time. Literature also helps relieve stress, and this is also a factor that contributes to longevity.
Brain training
Some compare the brain to muscles - its areas are responsible for movement and interaction. And it can also be trained.
Any tension in the brain is beneficial,” writer Evgeniy Vodolazkin told KP. - An example for me is my teacher Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev, who lived to be 92 years old. This was a man who read an enormous amount. When the brain is trained, it has a positive effect on the entire body. A person watching TV sees the finished picture. A person reading a book continues to draw conclusions - the word has logic and development. This allows you to constantly think while reading, which is training. What would I recommend reading? Books that force the brain to work. Those that contain not only logic and intellect, but also metaphysics. Chesterton's theological works - "The Eternal Man", for example. And also Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Gogol.
Literature acts as a sapper for the brain - it helps prevent what we will have to face.
Publishers do not conduct research on this topic, so we cannot say that a person lives longer if he reads all the time,” says Olga Aminova, head of the modern literature department at EKSMO. - But we can rely on observations. In order to prolong the state of mental health, you need to load the brain with tasks as much as possible, not necessarily mathematical - logical, metaphysical, cognitive. Reading is the best source for this kind of task. It is known that people who have a keen sense of poetry have rich associative thinking and have a remarkably developed memory. The best prevention of senile dementia is daily memorization of poetry. And reading literature is a painless and pleasant assimilation of the experience of other people. Something happened in life, you don’t know what to do in this or that case - remember how a literary hero got out of similar circumstances, and make the right choice.
QUESTION - RIB
What specific books should I take on?
Sergey TISHKOV, editor-in-chief of AST publishing house:
You need to read various books, but definitely the classics: “The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Ray Bradbury, the Strugatsky brothers. To soar above everyday everyday problems, fantasy classics are suitable: John Tolkien, Philip Pullman. Take a look at contemporary writers too: Donna Tartt's incredibly entertaining Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Goldfinch. It is also important to read “premium” literature to enrich your written and spoken language; this is useful in any situation.
Alexander USHAKOV, literary scientist:
Literature is the very thing that makes up human happiness. When a person in old age begins to reread literature - Tolstoy, Pushkin, Blok, Mayakovsky - this is an impulse. I recently got sick and enjoyed rereading Gogol’s “Dead Souls.” Then Don Quixote by Cervantes. Although I read them many times. And received an impulse that creates a mood that promotes life extension.
Larisa Rubalskaya turned 73 years old on September 24, 2018. In the Silver Academy Book Club, her poems about age are subtle, ironic, full of optimism.
Let the years fly by like swallows.
The age of a woman depends on her spirit.
You can be young at fifty.
But you can live like an old woman at twenty!
***
I don’t want to grow old, I don’t want to!
They say I look great...
I can still handle this
That not every young girl can bear it!
I can think of something like this
That others are just... jealous of me!
Faded youth in eternal debt -
What did I see in her, besides modesty?
Besides the complexes - what to wear??
Well, what kind of dresses did we have...
I don’t want and won’t grow old!
That’s how I designated it in my destiny!
I'll look at myself - I'm good!
Three wrinkles - just think, difficulties!
Young voice, beautiful soul,
Well, in the mirror... eternal nonsense!
Granddaughter - Sweetie is walking nearby...
Strangers think - mom - me!
...The course of time is inevitable!
I won't grow old! I'm stubborn!
Tired - march! If you are walking in the forest, march! Cross movements of arms and legs are the main exercise of brain gymnastics, known throughout the world as Brain Gym®. Gymnastics for the brain is useful for everyone: young, old and old. March when you are tired and don’t feel like doing anything. The feeling of cheerfulness will come instantly. As a bonus, due to the synchronization of the right and left hemispheres, mental activity will be activated and you will think faster and your thoughts will become easier!
What is brain gymnastics? Brain gymnastics is designed to synchronize the work of the right and left hemispheres of the brain. The main differences in the functioning of the human cerebral hemispheres were first discovered by the American scientist, Nobel Prize laureate R. Sperry. In his works, he showed that the right and left hemispheres of the brain share responsibilities: the left hemisphere solves logical problems, and the right hemisphere solves creative problems.
The goal of neurogymnastics, gymnastics for the brain, is to synchronize the work of the two hemispheres.
A well-prepared speech is nine-tenths delivered. — D. Carnegie. For everyone who wants to speak brightly and convincingly - the 10 best films in which the characters prepare for public speaking and demonstrate the skill of oratory. We address this selection primarily to participants in the pitch competition at the “Startup 50+” festival
1. “The King's Speech”, 2010 Biographical film by Tom Hooper based on a script by David Seidler. 4 Oscars - best film, director, screenplay, best actor (Colin Firth). The viewer has the opportunity to attend classes speeches with the Duke of York, the future King George VI, who stuttered since childhood. The best speech therapists in the British Empire tried to help him. In 1934, shortly after Hitler came to power, he began studying with Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), who was recommended as a successful speech therapist, and gave his first speech on September 3, 1939. With the help of a mentor, he was able to give a speech that went down in history as one of the best...
“Age only becomes a barrier if you think about it. There is biological age, and there is another age that is determined by your state of mind.”
Wang Deshun.
At the age of 24, I was an actor in the theater. At the age of 44, I began to learn English. At the age of 49, I created my own pantomime troupe and went to Beijing to become a Beijing tramp. My name didn’t mean anything, I started everything from scratch. At the age of 50, I entered the gym for the first time and began to work on myself. At the age of 57, I returned to the stage and created a unique art form called living sculpture. At the age of 70, I I really immersed myself in working on my body. At the age of 79, I made my first appearance on the podium. Now I am 80 years old and I still have gunpowder in my flasks. I still have dreams that I strive for.
25 years ago I read glossy magazines, carefully studied the fashion and beauty sections, learned tips from the sections “Sex” and “How to please your loved one in 125 ways.”
Today, out of habit, I look through articles on the topic “How not to grow old” or “How to age properly” and other harmless and useless rubbish. And this is what I want to say to those who are now 25-30: don’t waste your time!
Growing old is cool
I spent half my life fighting aging, and it won. Why did I waste my time so mediocrely? Why didn't I immediately admit defeat and try to just live? I don't know. All my life I pretended to be someone else: more sociable, more sexually liberated, younger, more stylish. I've spent tens of thousands of hours covering my gray hair and weighing it. And finally I told myself: enough is enough.
A year ago I stopped dyeing my hair. I gave up dieting and now I only make sure that my diet is complete - one, tasty - two. I've gained 10 kilos and I don't care. I did not renew my contract with...
“The crown of old age is authority, which can be won by those who have lived their own lives morally well. Satisfaction of all human aspirations leads to satisfaction with life."
Cicero (106-43 BC).
Ancient scientists, philosophers about old age
The main task of philosophers, “lovers of wisdom”, of various historical eras was to search for answers to the question: what is the meaning of human life in its various periods? Ancient philosophers devoted their works to the topic of old age, sometimes considering it in comparison with youth, as if on opposite levels. Thus, the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus (c. 540-480 BC) notes:
"It is the same for the One
living and dead
vigorous and sleeping,
young and old,
For then, having turned over,
it is,
and this, turning over again, -
first".
“Everyone who stops learning grows old, no matter at 20 or 80, and anyone else who continues to study remains young. The most important thing in life is to keep your brain young.” Henry Ford, inventor (161 US patents), industrialist
Why "academy"? The first Academy was the name given to the philosophical school that was created by Plato more than two thousand years ago. The Academy was located near Athens, in a sacred olive grove named after the mythical hero Academus (Ἀκάδημος).
Unlike universities, where many different scientific fields coexist, where the humanities and technical sciences coexist, where both physicists and lyricists are trained, academies provide training in one particular field of science or art. We have to learn the art of wisdom so that age does not come alone.
Wisdom does not always come with age. It happens that age comes alone.
Mikhail Zhvanetsky Silver Academy. For what? "Neither art nor wisdom can be achieved unless it is learned" - count...
The cheerful old women of the Finnish artist Inge Löök are the best illustration for the poems of Minsk resident Inna Bronstein from the collection “The Morning of Some Kacker”.
“These are, rather, even rhymes, bitter, ironic, but warming everyone who these lines somehow fall into the hands of... These are, rather, a kind of pills of optimism against the virus of loneliness and hopeless sadness. A medicine that can be useful to many in today's Russian reality..."
What bliss is in the soul and in nature, When nothing happens to us. But in order to taste such bliss, you must somehow survive until old age.
The film “First, Do No Harm” with Meryl Streep about the treatment of childhood epilepsy, is based on the real events of the family of director Jim Abrahams and the medical history of his son Charlie.
“First of all, do no harm”, First do no harm (1997)
The film is based on the true story of a family directed by Jim Abrahams. Director and producer Jim Abrahams made the film to draw attention to a problem he himself faced. His son Charlie suffered from a severe form of childhood epilepsy, the attacks of which were not controlled, despite drug therapy and surgical treatment. He called his son’s cognitive impairment “a fate worse than death.” Desperate to find help in orthodox medicine, Jim began to study medical literature. He found a description of the ketogenic diet for epilepsy in a book on childhood epilepsy by neurologist John Freeman, director of the Center for Pediatric Epilepsy at Johns Hopkins Hospital. In 1994, Jim Abrahams came to the Freeman Clinic. For Charlie, they developed an individual ketogenic diet and b...
Avocado for breakfast is a good start to the day, especially for those following the LCHF diet.
Avocado contains only 9 g of carbohydrates, 7 of which are dietary fiber. Avocado contains 14 g of fat, fatty acid composition: 1% ω-3, 14% ω-6, 71% ω-9.
But what to do if your favorite fruit (avocado is a fruit) turns out not to be soft and creamy, melting in your mouth, but somewhat...woody? Despite the fact that you tried to “ripen” it in all known ways: the avocado decorated the kitchen for several days, after which it lived in the same paper bag as the apple, but it never ripened.
Make scrambled eggs from it, or rather, bake an avocado with an egg, herbs and mascarpone.
Ingredients:
Avocado 0.5 pcs 30 g
Chicken egg 1 piece 60 g
Mascarpone 1 tbsp. 20 g
Total 110 g
How to make baked avocado with egg:
Cut the avocado into two pieces, remove the pit,
Lightly cut the avocado flesh with a mesh. Pour over lime juice, salt, pepper, and add your favorite seasonings. Mo...
Can books affect longevity? It turns out yes!
After reading Kafka's Metamorphosis, Gabriel García Márquez decided: “I will become a writer.” Old man Hemingway was inspired by Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace. Before his death, Kurt Cobain read Patrick Suskind's "Perfume" to the core.
Books affect everyone differently, but do they help you live longer? This is the question asked by scientists at Yale University. And they conducted a study: they followed mature adults (50 years and older) for 12 years to establish a link between reading books and longevity. 3600 people took part in the experiment. The bottom line is this: book lovers live longer than non-readers. And it’s not a matter of wealth at all - scientists made adjustments for income, profession and level of education. What then? Komsomolskaya Pravda tried to understand this issue.
“Tighten your gyrus” stimulates blood circulation
If we worry about the hero of a book, the same happens to our brain. He gets excited and works harder. Moreover, if we read calmly and for pleasure, this is one effect. If we move on to analysis, critical perception of the text, it’s completely different. “Tightening the gyrus” while reading causes a sharp change in the types of nervous activity and even the nature of blood circulation. What does this mean? The neurons of the brain are actively loaded, which means Alzheimer’s will not get close.
There may be many connections between longevity and reading books, I’m sure Ilya Pluzhnikov, Associate Professor of the Department of Neuro- and Pathopsychology, Faculty of Psychology, Moscow State University. - Classic fiction offers us patterns and patterns of behavior that help us cope with difficult life situations. People learn these methods, in some cases receiving what psychoanalysts call “catharsis”: while reading, they overcome current conflicts and problems. And they develop an adaptation resource. Unlike someone who does not read, a reading person develops a cognitive attitude towards the world - and does not perceive pseudo-stressful situations as stressful. This means that cortical-subcortical interactions of the brain are better formed. This is what can prevent the development of senile dementia. Literature helps us deal with stress correctly.
In other words: the more we read, the longer we maintain our sanity. And that means viability.
Regular reading of books is associated with a more responsible approach to lifestyle, says Doctor of Biological Sciences, gerontologist Alexey Moskalev. - This is a proven factor for longevity. People who read a lot are better educated and have higher incomes. They, as a rule, lead a healthy lifestyle, eat better, undergo preventive examinations, and seek medical help on time. Literature also helps relieve stress, and this is also a factor that contributes to longevity.
Brain training
Some compare the brain to muscles - its areas are responsible for movement and interaction. And it can also be trained.
Any tension in the brain is beneficial, the writer told KP Evgeniy Vodolazkin, laureate of the “Big Book”. - An example for me is my teacher Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev, who lived to be 92 years old. This was a man who read an enormous amount. When the brain is trained, it has a positive effect on the entire body. A person watching TV sees the finished picture. A person reading a book continues to draw conclusions - the word has logic and development. This allows you to constantly think while reading, which is training. What would I recommend reading? Books that force the brain to work. Those that contain not only logic and intellect, but also metaphysics. Chesterton's theological works - "The Eternal Man", for example. And also Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Gogol. Well, Pushkin - where are we without him?
Literature acts as a sapper for the brain - it helps prevent what we will have to face.
Publishers do not conduct research on this topic, so we cannot say that a person lives longer if he reads all the time, he assures Olga Aminova, Head of the modern literature department at EKSMO. - But we can rely on observations. In order to prolong the state of mental health, you need to load the brain with tasks as much as possible, not necessarily mathematical - logical, metaphysical, cognitive. Reading is the best source for this kind of task. It is known that people who have a keen sense of poetry have rich associative thinking and have a remarkably developed memory. The best prevention of senile dementia is daily memorization of poetry. And reading literature is a painless and pleasant assimilation of the experience of other people. Something happened in life, you don’t know what to do in this or that case - remember how a literary hero got out of similar circumstances, and make the right choice.
What about catharsis? There are tears over Kashtanka, Mumu and Sonya Marmeladova. Where to put the grinding pain after reading “White Bim Black Ear” - the most sadistic “children’s” story?
The dependence is inversely proportional, he believes Lev Danilkin.- I'm talking, of course, about my experience. Good books do not make you at peace with yourself, do not calm you down, but on the contrary, they make you nervous, cause allergies, speed up your blood, stir your soul, don’t let you sleep, you read it and you blow bubbles, catch air, scratch the mattress. They are radioactive, toxic and explosive - all together; I'm surprised how people are allowed on planes with some books. The best books I have read are “Dead Souls”, “Dunno on the Moon”, “Materialism and Empirio-Criticism”, “Chapaev and Emptiness”, “Foundations of History”, “The Road to Space”, “The Moment of Truth”, “ What should I do?”, “Norma”, “The Captain’s Daughter” - is it they that prolong life? Yes, you can put a “Reading Kills” sticker on each of them. The more qualified the reader, the more carefully he chooses books - and the more he is “irradiated” by books; and this is not a tan, like in a solarium, no, there is a mutation going on here. Good books change their readers. They knock you out of the way, knock out traffic jams... what kind of longevity is there, no.
However, there are also skeptics who are sure: the connection between reading and longevity is absolutely random. But even they urge: read more!
“All this is nonsense, of course,” the writer sneers. Zakhar Prilepin. - Explained only by the fact that while a person is reading, he does not drink. But what a binge he can fall into when he finishes reading the book. Or stop drinking altogether. If we get lucky!
QUESTION - RIB
What specific books should I take on?
Sergey TISHKOV, head of the Mainstream editorial office at AST publishing house:
You need to read various books, but definitely the classics: “The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Ray Bradbury, the Strugatsky brothers. To soar above everyday everyday problems, fantasy classics are suitable: John Tolkien, Philip Pullman. Pay attention to modern writers: Donna Tartt’s incredibly fascinating novel “The Goldfinch” (Pulitzer Prize winner) and “The Abode” by Zakhar Prilepin (Big Book Award). It is also important to read “premium” literature to enrich your written and oral speech, this is useful in any situation.
Alexander USHAKOV, leading researcher at the A. M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences:
Literature is the very thing that makes up human happiness. When a person in old age begins to reread literature - Tolstoy, Pushkin, Blok, Mayakovsky - this is an impulse. I recently got sick and enjoyed rereading Gogol’s “Dead Souls.” Then Don Quixote by Cervantes. Although I read them many times. And received an impulse that creates a mood that promotes life extension.
Lev ANNINSKY, literary critic, publicist:
Reading is a way of obtaining information. And longevity does not depend on whether a person reads or not. And it depends on what his life is like, what rules he follows. If he finds confirmation of these rules in books, then they help him live. If he does not live the way he internally needs, he will die earlier. And books won't help. I myself cannot live without reading.
Igor SHAYTANOV, head of the department of comparative history of literature, Faculty of History and Philology, Russian State University for the Humanities:
Reading associated with serious books allows a person to immerse himself in a new world and leave a person alone with himself. Stop in the run of time that traumatizes us. In this regard, reading books helps us immerse ourselves in special rhythms that restore our biological nature. And step away from the race we live in. As a reader of books, I feel this. Classical poetry regulates, debugs and restores the necessary rhythms of life, broken by the everyday course of events.
Elena SHUBINA, head of the Elena Shubina Editorial Office:
Books certainly prolong life, because reading a good book, correlated with it, means keeping both your brain and soul in good shape. A book is always an interlocutor, a wise interlocutor, and in old age a person inevitably suffers from existential loneliness, even if he has a family around him. The book is both a dialogue and pure, unalloyed pleasure.
