(NAPSI)—There’s a pleasant, easy way parents and teachers can improve their own memory and mental development and help their children do the same. How? Simply by reading at least 15 Pages A Day in print.

Expert Advice

“Reading, like playing a musical instrument or exercising, involves habit,” explains Dr. Naomi Baron, professor of linguistics at American University. She studied students in the United States and found students who read digitally are more distracted. “Ninety-two percent of U.S. students found it easiest to concentrate when reading a hard copy,” said Dr. Baron. “Students tell us they remember more when reading in print, spend more time when reading print and read more carefully than with digital texts.” Adds Daniel Willingham, professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, there’s a “cost to comprehension when students read from a screen.”

What To Do

To exercise your brain, pledge to read at least 15 Pages A Day in print. Share your involvement and invite friends to take the pledge using #15Pages on social media.

Why It Matters

• The American Library Association says “students who read independently become better readers, score higher on achievement tests in all subject areas, and have greater content knowledge than those who do not.”
• Reading aloud for 15 minutes a day aids language development, instills a love of reading, and increases understanding of how knowledge is gained and shared.
• Current research indicates that taking notes by hand on paper aids memory and recollection.
• According to another recent study, “people who regularly read and write have a markedly slower decline in memory than people who don’t.”

Where To Learn More

The Paper & Packaging—How Life Unfolds TM campaign explains the benefits of reading on paper at www.howlifeunfolds.com/15pages.