People with good reading habits are more likely to be physically and mentally healthier, say University of Stavanger's Reading Centre researchers.
Adults always encourage youngsters to inculcate good reading habits. The benefits of reading include awareness of surroundings, good knowledge of things and a better vocabulary. However, researchers from the University of Stavanger's Reading Centre found that good reading habits don't just enhance cognitive development.
Researchers of the study found that people who read more are more likely to be healthier, both physically and mentally. This is especially true for self-perceived health, which includes feeling pain, fatigue, emotional drainage and deterioration of physical health. Self-perceived health is closely related to the actual well-being of a person.
In the new study, researchers found that self-perceived health tends to worsen with age among less literate people because they fail to gather health information through reading. Researchers note that young people enjoy good health irrespective of their level of literacy. However, with age this affects a person's health.
"When you're young, your health will usually be good regardless of how well or poorly you look after yourself," Professor Kjersti Lundetræ at the University of Stavanger's Reading Centre said in a press statement. "So it's natural that the relationship between weak reading skills and the perception of poor health rises with age. That's when you usually feel the effects of an unhealthy lifestyle or failing to look after yourself properly."
The consequence of literacy on health is greatest among those aged 45-65 and lowest in the youngest group, aged 16-24. One of the reasons why people with poor readings habits have poorer health is because they miss out on health information communicated through newspapers, magazines and on the Internet.
Moreover, a doctor's visit is often accompanied by brochures or leaflets that provide more information about illnesses and their treatment. How well a patient comprehends this information by reading affects his treatment and recovery process.
Researchers of the study recommend making such texts easier to read and comprehend so that people with poorer reading skills can understand and take appropriate measures.
"Since a lot of those who are most in need of such knowledge are poor readers, these texts have to be easy to read," Lundetræ concluded. "They must be written in a language which is not too technical or which uses too many words, and must communicate clearly and simply."
