Pile of books still gathering dust? Here’s the BEST reason to dive in

If you – like millions others – blame your little handheld device for being unable to concentrate on a book for more than ten minutes these days, you may want to try a little bit harder… for the good of your health.

While so many of us can happily devote 12 hours to a Netflix binge, the thoughts of spending an hour alone with a book while our phone charges in another room is enough to bring an embarrassing number of us out in a cold sweat.

But in addition to all the standard benefits associated with reading, experts have recently established that those who read tend to live longer lives than those who don't.

In a study of more than 3,500 individuals over the age of 50, scientists discovered that those who read for up to 3.5 hours a week were 17% less likely to die in the following 12 years while those who read more than that were 23% less likely.

Commenting on the findings, Becca R. Levy, a professor of epidemiology at Yale University said: "People who report as little as a half-hour a day of book reading had a significant survival advantage over those who did not read."

Researchers established that, on average, regular readers tend to live two years longer than those who don't.

Ladies, it's time to attack that book pile by the bed.