Christmas is a lovely time of year

Christmas is a lovely time of year if you are lucky enough to be well, to have friends and family around you and to feel in control of your life. However, for many people it is a time that they are afraid of. As the nights draw in during the winter, many older people talk about how much more difficult it is to be on their own.In a recent interview, Jacqueline Wilson expressed her concerns about children also feeling worried. But I was heartened by her suggestion in another interview that she hopes her books will reassure (使……消除疑虑) children going through a difficult time and make them feel as if they’re not alone.If reading can, as Jacqueline suggests, provide reassurance and a sense of connection, it has never been more important. Reading could transform one in four adults who experience mental health issues in their lifetime, the 850,000 people in the UK living with dementia (痴呆症) and the one in ten older people who feel lonely.We always know that a book could be a great Christmas present, but can it also change our lives? Our research at The Reading Agency suggests that it can. We have found evidence to show that reading can benefit our well-being and help us make social connections.People who read regularly are more satisfied with life and more likely to feel that the things they do are worthwhile; reading for pleasure can also increase sympathy, improve relationships, reduce symptoms of depression and improve well-being.We are developing a new programme, Reading Friends, which will use reading to connect weak older people. In researching the programme, we found that reading with others can help older people build social networks.Read a book with your children, parents or grandparents over Christmas; make a new year’s resolution to start a reading group with friends, and introduce reading to your community. You could be giving them the gift they most want this year.