- How Do We Age?
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Key points
- There is strong evidence that physical health contributes to longevity.
- Research also shows a strong link between mental health and longevity.
- Book reading has been shown to contribute to mental health and a long life.
According to a study published last year (Santos-Pujol et al., 2025), the oldest living person in the world made it to 117 years, 168 days. That is a remarkably long life, and people are naturally very interested in just how she did it. Is it possible that the rest of us could make it to that admirable age? Just what would we need to do?
You’ve probably heard the old admonition that successful aging requires “a sound mind in a healthy body.” It is a quote from the Roman poet Juvenal (mens sana in corpore sano in Latin), usually used when someone is talking about the benefits of physical exercise to both health and well-being. If you ask your doctor how to age well, you’ll likely get advice about ways to keep your body healthy—eat right, get plenty of rest, avoid alcohol and smoking
Santos-Pujol et al. conducted what is known as a multiomics study into the physical life of this remarkable woman. Multiomics refers to a cross-disciplinary examination of the DNA, RNA, proteins, metabolism, etc., of the physical health of a person. Many people assume that aging and physical health are negatively related to one another: As age increases, physical health declines. However, this particular woman proved to be physically healthy even at her very advanced age
Keep in mind that the adage about sound bodies and minds also works the other way around. Successful aging also requires that we keep our minds strong and healthy to help us physically age in a healthy way. Recent research supports the idea that, along with maintaining a healthy diet and getting moderate exercise, a healthy social and leisure life is also essential to aging. Finding a way to keep your mind and your body engaged and active can help you live a long life
Recent research has pointed to one particular leisure activity that is associated with longevity, one that many of us already enjoy—reading. At first blush, you wouldn’t necessarily think that reading, a fairly sedentary and quiet endeavor, would be associated with a longer lifespan, but the cognitive benefit that reading provides—the benefit to one’s mind—is the key factor. And interestingly, according to at least one study, it is not just reading but reading printed books in particular that is the most beneficial.
Bavishi, Slade, and Levy (2016) used a statistical technique that allows researchers to examine the association between the survival time of their participants and one or more predictor variables. The study followed more than 3,000 older participants for 12 years. The researchers tracked hours spent reading books per day, as well as magazine and newspaper reading time. They also looked at the contributions that “covariates” (factors that might also affect longevity, like age, sex, race, education level, general physical health, wealth, marital status, and depression) made to longevity. They found that book reading contributed to a survival advantage significantly more than did newspaper or magazine reading, and that “book readers also experienced a 20% reduction in risk of mortality over the 12 years of follow up compared to non-book readers.” Book reading was a “complete mediator” of the effect on longevity. When the mediator or predicting variable (book reading in this case) is dropped from the model, the statistic calculated in the model to measure the association between the predictor and risk of death drops to zero and no longer predicts longevity.
Bavishi et al. speculate that reading books as opposed to magazines or newspapers creates a survival advantage for two reasons. First, books, more than magazines and newspapers, promote deep reading (Wolf, 2008) or a deep cognitive engagement with the material that allows the reader to make connections both within the book they’re immersed in and with things in the outside world. We use all of our senses, our memory, and our imagination when we are deeply reading. Citing a study that compared the writing in books vs. magazines and newspapers (Stanovich, 1992), Bavishi suggests that deep cognitive engagement is more likely with books than other kinds of reading material because of “the tendency of book authors to present themes, characters and topics in greater length and depth” and to use content to “promote empathy, social perception and emotional intelligence” (Bavishi et al.). Other researchers have noted that we receive kinesthetic and haptic (touch) feedback when we read books (Mangen, 2008), which is unavailable when we’re reading on a Kindle or even in a magazine. Their size and weight tell us about length; we mark progress with our fingers or a bookmark; we flip back and forth to chase down ideas; we write notes in them, underline, highlight, and even claim them as ours with our names on the inside cover. This kind of interaction with the material is more difficult to do with a magazine or an e-book.
- How Do We Age?
- Take our Positive Aging Test
- Find a therapist specialized in aging concerns
Finally, a large longitudinal study (almost 2,000 participants) in Taiwan tracked reading habits and cognitive function in older participants (64 years of age and up) across 14 years (Chang, Wu, and Hsiung, 2021). The researchers found that “[f]requent reading activities were associated with a reduced risk of cognitive decline for older adults at all levels of education in the long term.”
A long life with more time to read. Sounds good to me
Bavishi, A., Slade, M.D., and Levy, B.R. (2016). A chapter a day: Association of book reading with longevity. Social Science and Medicine, 164, 44–48. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.07.014
Chang, Y.-H., Wu, I.-C., and Hsiung, C.A. (2021). Reading activity prevents long-term decline in cognitive function in older people: Evidence from a 14-year longitudinal study. International Psychogeriatrics, 33(1), 63–74
Mangen, A. (2008). Hypertext fiction reading: haptics and immersion. Journal of Research in Reading, 31 (4), 404-419. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9817.2008.00380.x
Santos-Pujol, E., Noguera-Castells, A., Casado-Pelaez, M., …, Laayouni, H., Navarro, A., and Esteller, M. (2025). The multiomics blueprint of the individual with the most extreme lifespan. Cell Reports Medicine,6(10). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xcrm.2025.102368
Stanovich, K. E. (1992). Speculations on the causes and consequences of individual differences in early reading acquisition. In P. B. Gough, L. C. Ehri, & R. Treiman (Eds.), Reading acquisition (pp. 307–342). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc
Wolf, M. (2008). Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain. Harper Collins Publishing, New York, NY
