Why Is It Difficult for Me to Read

One time yous learn how to read, it'southward like shooting fish in a barrel to accept the skill for granted. Similar breathing or walking, we don't requite the ability much thought unless it begins to deteriorate. Only trouble reading can develop at any age for a variety of reasons, including difficulty concentrating, mild cognitive impairment, and concrete changes.

Mental roadblocks can cause trouble reading

Fuzzy thinking and difficulty concentrating can get in the way of reading. "If your attention isn't focused on the sentence you're reading, you're not likely to register enough of the sentence to understand what your eyes but passed over," notes Dr. Joel Salinas, a neurologist at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital.

You might experience fuzzy thinking or difficulty concentrating because of

• a lack of sleep
• stress
• nutrient deficiency
• a medication that makes it harder to concentrate
• reading or learning disabilities.

Sometimes historic period-related cognitive changes affect reading skills. Reading requires attention, brusk-term retentivity, and recall, which turn down a little every bit we get older. "It'due south normal when you lot're older that your reading might be slower or that yous accept to occasionally read a judgement more than once to get its significant. Your ability to read and retain information may take more try," Dr. Salinas explains.

Balmy cognitive impairment can cause trouble reading

Mild cerebral impairment (MCI) may as well exist behind a decline in reading skills. MCI can go far harder to empathize or retain what you're reading.

MCI is a noticeable alter in thinking and memory skills, but not enough that it becomes a huge barrier to your power to take care of yourself and attain your daily tasks. You may miss some appointments, lose things oft, take more than difficulty recalling names or words you'd like to utilise, or have a harder fourth dimension finding familiar places and keeping track of important dates.

Physical challenges can crusade trouble reading

Concrete changes, such as accidents or chronic illness, can also bear on your ability to read. Examples include:

• Poor vision. Perchance you have double vision, or you can't run across up close, or peradventure information technology's hard to read in a room that isn't well lighted.
• Arthritis. "Osteoarthritis at the base of the thumb, wrist, or fingers is mutual with age and can bear upon your power to hold a book," says Dr. Robert Shmerling, a rheumatologist at Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Middle.
• Neuropathy (pain or numbness in the extremities). This may result from diabetes or back pain, and can make information technology uncomfortable to hold reading material for extended periods.
• Traumatic brain injury. A concussion that you endure from a sports injury, fall, or motorcar blow might create difficulties concentrating or seeing (such every bit blurry vision).
• Shaky hands from essential tremor, multiple sclerosis, or other weather may keep y'all from belongings a book still enough to read the words.

When to seek aid

Talk to your dr. when y'all discover trouble reading. Start with your primary care doctor, who can perform a mini evaluation or ship you lot to a neuropsychologist for a thorough evaluation. "Neuropsychologists can exam for how fast you read, how much you understand, and what you lot remember from what you read," Dr. Salinas says.

When physical changes are the problem, treating the underlying condition can aid you read better. For instance, maybe you just demand a new pair of glasses.

Endeavor these workarounds

Sometimes using a few uncomplicated strategies tin brand reading easier. If you have hurting or tremors, Dr. Shmerling recommends propping upwardly a book on a pillow or book holder. If yous notice it's hard to flip pages, try an electronic reading device like an iPad or Kindle. With an electronic device, the page stays steady, and information technology's just a tap to turn the page. For vision challenges, electronic reading devices and large-print books tin help greatly.

When attention is the claiming, Dr. Salinas suggests reading in a quiet space, reading out loud, mouthing the words equally yous read, listening to the audiobook recording while you lot read, or using a canvass of newspaper to reveal one line of text at a time then you don't skip ahead.

The important thing is to try. "There are solutions that piece of work for virtually obstacles to reading," says Dr. Shmerling, "and for most people, information technology's a great way to continue up with what's happening in the earth and to continue the mind working."

Equally a service to our readers, Harvard Health Publishing provides access to our library of archived content. Delight note the appointment of last review or update on all articles. No content on this site, regardless of date, should e'er be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician.

Commenting has been closed for this post.

littlelefordled.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/trouble-reading-try-these-workarounds-2019062717242

Share this post