Knowing more than one language might help keep your brain sharp as you get older, according to Tanya Dash, a speech-language pathologist and cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Alberta.
Dash works with older adults and stroke survivors to study how language and thinking skills interact.
“Language works with attention, memory, and executive functions, which are important for everyday communication and activities,” Dash explains.
When people have strokes or neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s, these interactions become more noticeable.
Damage to the brain’s language areas in the frontal and temporal lobes can affect understanding and producing language.
Conditions like aphasia and dementia can make it hard to use language correctly, but the symptoms vary widely between individuals.
The good news for bilingual people is that knowing more than one language might protect against these conditions.
Research has shown that bilingualism can delay Alzheimer’s symptoms by up to five years.
However, it’s still debated whether bilingualism reduces the risk of developing dementia or slows its progression.
Dash aims to answer these questions with further studies to see what aspects of bilingualism might delay the onset of symptoms.
Some studies suggest that bilingual stroke survivors have milder symptoms and a better recovery prognosis.
As people age, their cognitive performance tends to decline, affecting memory, attention, and executive function.
This decline often becomes noticeable around age 50 and more pronounced by age 60. Symptoms can range from taking longer to complete everyday tasks to having trouble finding words or understanding jokes.
Building a “cognitive reserve” can help reduce these symptoms. This is similar to saving money for retirement or exercising to stay fit. Education, occupation, and leisure activities can all help build this cognitive reserve, and bilingualism also contributes.
“Multilingual individuals train their cognitive system by managing and switching between languages daily, which strengthens their brain’s language control network,” Dash says. This training can help protect the brain from age-related decline.
Even adults who learn a second language later in life can benefit. The way the brain handles learning a new language might differ based on age and proficiency, but the positive impact on cognitive performance is similar.
In summary, being bilingual can help maintain cognitive abilities and delay the decline associated with aging. This cognitive boost applies even if the second language is learned later in life, making bilingualism a valuable tool for long-term brain health.
If you care about brain health, please read studies about dietary strategies to ward off dementia ,and how omega-3 fatty acids fuel your mind.
For more health information, please see recent studies about Choline deficiency linked to Alzheimer’s disease, and what to eat (and avoid) for dementia prevention.
