Extending Our Lives Through Stories

Another concept Dr. Sexson brought up in class that really intrigued me was how we can extend our own lives through reading stories.  He talked about how when you spend 200 years in the reality of a story you are extending your own life by 200 years.  How can this be?  Dr. Sexson opens these doorways and if we want to find out the answer we have to walk in.  Since I'm just learning to become a conscious and wise reader it makes sense to me that I haven't experienced this life expansion through reading before because I didn't know I could, it wasn't on my mental radar.  So, since I just had another birthday a few days ago and I'm feeling a bit old, I'm going to pick out a good novel (perhaps ask Dr. Sexson's advice as to gain the most years for the read), and add a few more years to my life.