Enjoying fictional books is far more than an engrossing break from reality — it can offset dementia symptoms. Consider adding this beloved pastime to your health rituals when learning about how to prevent dementia.
Are you already coping with dementia? Reading may still help you. Let’s explore the definitions of fiction, dementia, and how they’re connected.
What is Dementia?
Dementia is a decline in cognitive functioning, including emotional regulation, memory recall, and reasoning. Although the risk for dementia increases with age, it’s not a normal part of aging. The severity can range from a mild inconvenience, like forgetting birthdays, to complete dependence on another person for basic daily living activities.
Dementia occurs when neurons in the brain stop functioning properly. Changes in different regions relate to specific forms of dementia, but the reasons why some people are afflicted over others remain unclear.
Dementia symptoms can include:
Agitation
Confusion
Memory loss
Lack of empathy
Sleep disruptions
Repetitive questions
Loss of social cognition
Anxiety and depression
Getting lost in familiar places
Difficulty with problem-solving
Decreased ability to communicate
Types of dementia include:
Vascular dementia
Alzheimer's disease
Lewy body dementia
Frontotemporal dementia
What is Fiction?
Fictional stories are born from the writer’s imagination. Some narratives take place in the real world, or alternate versions of it, while others are completely fantastical.
Stories may be based on actual events, like historical fiction, but the fact remains that they aren’t real. For example, the characters may be historical figures living in a country that exists, but the details of the story are fabricated.
Other genres of fiction include:
Horror
Mystery
Space opera
Urban fantasy
Teen Romance
Magical realism
How Can Fiction Counter Dementia Symptoms?
Now, it’s time for the fun part. Here are benefits of fiction that may alleviate some of the common dementia symptoms listed above. Keep them in mind if, or when, you must explore geriatric care management.
Books Boost Well Being
Fiction improves mood, especially after it’s been cognitively and emotionally processed. Book clubs are a great example of taking time to digest what you’ve read. Book clubs can also help elderly folks experiencing loneliness due to losing friends and family over the years.
To clarify, literary fiction benefits mood — genre fiction doesn’t provide the same results.
What’s the difference between literary and genre fiction? Literary fiction is character-driven, settings are like characters in of themselves, there’s emphasis on descriptions over dialogue, the dialogue doesn’t always mirror natural speech, and the prose may have an artistic flair.
Best-selling books tend to be genre fiction. These stories are plot-driven, the setting is solely for escapism, the dialogue mirrors actual speech, and the prose is plain.
Reading Benefits Sleep
Reading before bed has been shown to improve sleep. It slows your heart rate, releases muscle tension, and calms the mind. Try incorporating reading into your sleep routine, which can help signal to your brain that it’s time to wind down.
Choosing physical books or tablets intended to mimic paper can reduce screen time before bed. This helps cultivate healthy sleep hygiene, an important practice for everyone, but especially people suffering from sleep disruptions due to dementia.
Page-Turners Promote Problem Solving
Have you ever found yourself imagining different plot outcomes, or how to solve a gripping mystery? It’s no surprise that reading fiction can enhance problem solving, and other cognitive skills such as reasoning, and abstract thinking. Practice with problem solving is especially useful to elderly people who haven’t changed their routines in years, or delegate tasks requiring this skill to others.
Novels Improve Empathy and Communication Skills
Reading a story gives you an opportunity to enter a character’s mind and experience their world from their perspective. You can learn about ways of life that may be alien to you. No wonder reading fiction is linked to improved empathy.
Anything benefiting empathy also enhances communication skills, because empathy fosters more thoughtful and effective communication. Fine tuned empathy and communication skills can ease interactions with caregivers and loved ones.
Stories Strengthen Social Cognitive Skills and Memory
Reading fiction improves social cognition because it calls readers to imagine hypothetical social situations, and the unspoken factors driving them. What’s social cognition? It’s the ability to navigate social situations by predicting the mental states of others and understanding social expectations.
In other words, reading fiction causes us to mentally practice various scenarios, which prepares us for similar situations in real life. Encountering new concepts in a story can prepare older people for new experiences in this ever-changing world, and foster adaptability even during cognitive decline.
Improving social cognition also benefits memory. Memory is vital to this process because recalling personal experiences helps people navigate new social situations. What you imagine while reading fiction can trigger memories you may have no reason to recall outside of engaging with the story.
What About Non-Fiction?
There is some overlap between the benefits of fiction and non-fiction, but reading fiction yields more positive results. For example, improved problem-solving skills, empathy, and communication are unique to reading fiction.
7 Tips for More Fiction
Not much of a reader? Here are some ways to build the habit and reap its benefits.
Set Aside Specific Times of Day
It’s up to you to prioritize yourself. Instead of scrolling on your phone while eating lunch, before bed, or during other breaks, use at least one of those time slots for reading.
Break it Up
Start by reading a chapter a day. If they’re long, split them in half. Finish the first part of the chapter during your lunch break, then complete the second half before bed, or another chunk of free time.
Try Audiobooks
Audiobooks are still books. You simply listen to the story instead of reading it. They give you the opportunity to multitask by listening while stuck in traffic, doing household chores, and other activities.
Unpack Your Relationship to Fiction
There could be an underlying reason why you don’t read fiction aside from personal preferences. Some examples include:
Reading fatigue after years spent in school
A person who is a source of trauma that somehow relates to fiction
Overwhelm or underwhelm due to difficulty with suspending disbelief
Insecurities rooted in learning differences that impact reading, like dyslexia
Explore Different Story Lengths
You don’t have to dedicate your time and energy to a full-length novel. Consider flash fiction, short stories, and novellas. Anthologies are a great way to enjoy a variety of short fiction without dedicating yourself to a more involved plot.
Optimize Your Screen Time
Daily screen time has been normalized for a while, and it’s here to stay. Might as well make the most of it. Don’t feel like carrying physical books? Buy books online and enjoy them from an e-reader allowing you to store dozens of stories in a single device.
You can skip a trip to your local bookstore by using reading apps, like Wattpad or Radish, with which you can enjoy fiction on your phone. A perk of this option is the opportunity to interact with authors and fellow readers.
Join a Book Club
Book clubs are a great way to combine reading fiction with making new friends. This is helpful when you’ve moved to a new location, or simply need more human interaction.
Are you a staff member employed at the growing number of assisted living facilities and retirement communities? Consider advocating for book clubs to be included in daily activities. That may help residents, and staff, over time.
There’s No Such Thing as Too Many Books
Next time you get lost in a story, take a moment of gratitude for treating yourself to far more than entertainment. Reading fiction can help you age with grace.
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