If your loved ones seem to be struggling with doing basic tasks frequently or are becoming more forgetful, they may be having a cognitive decline. Worse still, they may be struggling with dementia. However, dementia does not need to be a one-way street and it can often be reversible. Check out how reading reduces your loved ones’ dementia risk with reading. Then, learn what are the steps that can help your loved ones’ risk of dementia be reduced.
Benefits of Reading
According to research, you may be surprised to note that reading can help to reduce the risk of dementia, especially in people who have entered their golden years. If your loved ones were to read daily, it would help reduce the risk of dementia. The lowered risk of dementia does not include lifestyle factors, socioeconomic factors, and quality of health. Moreover, reading can help reduce cognitive decline and memory decline by more than 30 percent. Even in dementia-ridden patients, reading can help retain their memory and language skills as long as possible.
How You Can Encourage Your Loved Ones to Read
If your loved ones are not used to reading, do encourage them to look at short articles that are easy to read. This will encourage them to be more interested in reading. Also, you may want to encourage them to read a variety of topics, from fashion to informative articles. By providing them with a variety of topics to choose from, you can encourage them to be interested in a particular topic. This will help encourage them to read regularly without any prompts and provide life-long benefits to their cognitive and memory skills.
If your loved ones are suffering from mild dementia, there are still ways to encourage your loved ones to read regularly. You may want to choose reading materials that have clear and large texts. You may also want to choose books with various photos and drawings to retain their attention. Humorous books will also help to attract their attention for a long time. You may also want to write down a summary of the plot so that they can refer to it. This will help them to understand the plot easily and be more engaged in the story. To ensure that they keep a habit of reading, you can put newspapers and books at your home so that they can access the material easily.
If your loved ones are suffering from moderate dementia, you may want to read alongside them to retain their attention.
With these tips, you can encourage your loved ones to read regularly, even if they have dementia. If you are still wondering whether reading can help reduce the risk of dementia in your loved ones, do note there are multiple benefits to reading. However, we at TerraBella Southport understand that it is very challenging when caring for your dementia-ridden loved one. If you need extra assistance, our team will always be glad to help you to provide the best care for your loved ones.
