When you think about why you read, the reasons are pretty standard: You might get smarter, you genuinely love it and/or you’ll have more to talk about at awkward cocktail parties. But it turns out, reading’s not just for upping the number of fancy words you can drop into casual conversation--it could also make you live longer. Seriously.
According to a recent study published in the journal Social Science and Medicine, book readers live an average of about two years longer than those who don’t read at all. And people who read up to three and a half hours per week? They’re 17 percent less likely to die in the next 12 years.
One caveat: The study specified that books are more advantageous than newspapers or magazines, but that doesn’t mean we’re giving up our subscription to The New Yorker (or Cosmo).
It does mean, though, that now’s as good a time as any to finally crack open Hamlet and The Catcher in the Rye.
