What are the hidden benefits of reading?

We’ve all heard that reading builds imagination and vocabulary and helps us learn, but there’s more. Research suggests it may even help us live longer. In 2016, Yale University researchers followed more than 3,600 adults over 50 for 12 years, tracking their reading habits and life expectancy. Their finding was striking: people who regularly read books lived, on average, nearly two years longer than those who didn’t read at all. How is that possible? What explains this link, in practical …