Five reasons that reading is one of the best ways to keep your brain healthy

As we get older, our cognitive abilities can decline. However, reading has surprising benefits for our brain health

Reading is associated with improved sleep, better emotional intelligence and reduced stress, say health experts

Cognitive thinking abilities, such as planning and organising, remembering, making decisions and more, all affect how well we do everyday tasks, and whether we can live independently or not.

However, as we age, changes in these abilities are common, which may impact the speed of how we find words and recall names, cause problems with multitasking, and lead to a decrease in the ability to pay attention. We now have a lot of advancements in place to help keep our bodies healthy, but not a lot for our brains, says Dr Amir-Homayoun Javadi, associate professor in cognitive neuroscience at the University of Kent.