Learning New Languages Helps Keep the Brain Biologically Younger
Even if you’re not fluent
To keep your mind sharp, it helps to challenge your brain with productive and creative tasks, much research has shown. Learning languages is known to be among the effective approaches.
New research measured brain activity in a group of people using magnetoencephalography to gauge the brain’s biological age (which can differ from chronological). On average, the brains of those who spoke multiple languages appeared younger than those who spoke only one language. Specifically:
Two languages: 6 six years younger
Three languages: 7 years younger
Four languages: 13 years younger
You don’t have to speak several languages fluently to benefit from some effort.
“Higher language proficiency and earlier acquisition of a second language were also associated with more delayed brain aging,” said Lucia Amoruso, PhD, from the Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language in Spain. “This suggests that multilingual experience matters as a gradient: it is not simply about being bilingual or not, but about the depth and duration of language experience.”
The study does not rule out the possibility that social engagement or other lifestyle factors might contribute to the findings, however.
“We know that many factors can influence our brain health and mental abilities as we age,” said Christina Dalla, a professor of pharmacology at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. “For example, we know that not smoking, eating well, social and artistic engagement, as well as being active, can help. How we use our brains throughout life can also have an impact, especially if we engage in effortful learning that activates our brain.
“This study suggests that learning a second, third or fourth language could help our brains to stay younger for longer, and the earlier we start, the better,” said Dalla, who was not involved in the research. “There are many good reasons for learning another language at any age – social, cultural and for the health of your brain – so we should support language learning at school and throughout life, even if it’s hard.”
The results, which have not been peer reviewed, were presented at a recent Federation of European Neuroscience Societies Forum.