PRESS RELEASE Barcelona, 19 April 2024

THE IMPORTANCE OF READING, ONE OF THE HABITS MOST RECOMMENDED BY EXPERTS TO PREVENT ALZHEIMER’S.

• Reading helps to improve concentration, attention, memory and visualisation skills, and is a key tool for preventing Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia
• With over 25 years of experience, the Ace Alzheimer Centre also highlights the benefits of reading for people who already have the disease, both to stimulate cognitive abilities and to help them with their memory.

Dementia represents one of the most significant healthcare challenges of the coming years. According to estimates from Alzheimer Europe, by 2050 some 1.7 million Spaniards will be living with some form of dementia, which is almost 4% of the population, more than double the figure recorded in 2018 (1.83%). For this reason, on the occasion of World Book Day, which is celebrated every year on 23 April, the Ace Alzheimer Centre Barcelona highlights the importance of reading habits for stimulating and preserving cognitive function, which helps to prevent Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.

Reading is not only a pleasure for the mind, but it is also one of the most beneficial activities for health, as it stimulates brain activity and strengthens neural connections. Specifically, it helps to exercise concentration, attention, memory and visualisation skills, acting as a protective shield against cognitive decline.

Numerous scientific sources and institutions support this link, including an insightful analysis titled “The Habit of Reading as a Protective Factor Against Cognitive Decline”. For this reason, it is very important to foster this habit from a young age and maintain it throughout life. The fact is that, in addition to preserving our cognitive abilities, reading also reduces stress, which can lead to neurological conditions such as headaches, and helps to develop good sleep hygiene routines when practised before going to bed.

To improve its functions and increase its response speed, our brain needs us to keep it active and exercise it. For this reason, one of the greatest benefits that reading offers us is that it helps to increase our cognitive reserve, a key concept in this context. This explains how the brain can better compensate for and tolerate changes caused by certain conditions, allowing people to maintain their cognitive abilities despite age-related or neurodegenerative disease-related brain changes.

In addition to reading, educational attainment, lifestyle and leisure activities are other factors that reinforce this reserve and provide greater protection against cognitive decline. Having the habit of reading regularly for more than five years and having completed at least primary education helps to provide more significant protection against these conditions.

Recommendations from the Ace Alzheimer Centre Barcelona

In addition to maintaining the habit of reading, the experts at Ace encourage people to follow these guidelines to keep their brains active:

Reading to treat Alzheimer’s and dementia

• 1. Keep learning: learning new things stimulates our brain and promotes neural plasticity, that is, the ability of the nervous system to change its structure and function throughout life, as an adaptation to the diversity of the environment.
• 2. Stay socially active: socialising helps us to stay mentally active, strengthens skills such as language, social skills and memory, and keeps us in a positive state of mind.
• 3. Take part in activities: leisure activities with a clear objective, such as board games, card games or Sudoku, help us to develop skills such as organisation, planning and decision-making.
• 4. Break the routine: Leading an organised life helps to reduce stress, but the problem is that when we automate our activities, our brain activity decreases. Breaking a habit, changing your routine or setting new goals is a way to boost your brain’s performance.

Finally, it is important to highlight the importance of reading not only to prevent Alzheimer’s, but also to treat it and improve the quality of life for people who already suffer from it. Specifically, it helps with language and memory skills and contributes significantly to preserving cognitive functions. To this end, Amèrica Morera, Head of the Day Unit at the Ace Alzheimer Centre Barcelona, advises encouraging the habit of reading aloud with patients and stresses: ‘It is important to adapt the reading material to each patient’s needs and interests to ensure that this activity is appealing to them and even allows them to recall vital aspects or emotions.’

About the Ace Alzheimer Center Barcelona, a pioneering model in the field of Alzheimer’s

The Ace Alzheimer Center Barcelona, an innovative organisation and a leading institution in Spain, was founded in 1995 with the aim of meeting the growing demand for diagnosis and treatment for people with cognitive impairment and dementia, especially Alzheimer’s, offering personalised care and comprehensive support to patients and their families. Ace is considered one of the international leaders in research, particularly in the fields of clinical, neuropsychological, social and basic research.

Each year, its Diagnostic Unit treats around 8,000 people, of whom more than 4,000 have dementia (3,000 of them with Alzheimer’s). Among other research activities, the Ace Alzheimer Center Barcelona participates in numerous global clinical trials covering all stages of the disease. Precisely because of its position as an international leader, it has spearheaded two EU-funded IMI research projects on the genetics of Alzheimer’s (ADAPTED) and on models of active patient participation (MOPEAD).

For more information:

Isabel Rodríguez

93 444 73 18

irodriguez@fundacioace.org

Gloria Moreno

605 232 093

gloria.moreno@weareboth.com

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