Bard is a boost for our brains

READING the classics like Shakespeare and Wordsworth can boost our brain and improve mental health.
The finding is from scientists at the University of Liverpool, who say reading “challenging” old-fashioned language makes the brain “light up”.

Researchers hooked volunteer readers up to brain scanners and monitored them as they read classic texts by our greatest writers, also including poet TS Eliot.

To test their theory, researchers also gave volunteers a more straightforward modern translation of the same great books – only to find that the original versions sparked far more electrical activity in their grey matter.

It appears more challenging reads shift the brain up a gear.

Interestingly, they also kept the readers turning the pages.

Professor Philip Davis, who worked on the study, said: “The research shows the power of literature to shift mental pathways, to create new thoughts, shapes and connections in the young and the staid alike.”