Neuroscientists Studied More Than 80,000 People and Found That Speaking Multiple Languages Might Slow Down Brain Aging

[Uncle Joe]

An enormous analysis of data from a broad array of participants found an association between multilingualism and cognitive aging

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Computer analyses suggested that multilingual speakers are about half as likely to experience accelerated aging compared with those who speak only one language. The protective effect of multilingualism remained when the researchers accounted for country-level linguistic, physical, social and sociopolitical factors, such as air quality and gender equality. And the more languages one speaks, the better.

“Each additional language provided measurable protection,” Agustín Ibáñez, a study co-author and neuroscientist at Trinity College Dublin, tells Euronews. “Speaking several languages continuously exercises multiple systems. It forces you to manage attention, inhibit interference, and switch between linguistic rules, all of which strengthen the networks that tend to weaken with age,” he adds.

Many brain health recommendations focus on reducing damage accumulated by the brain across a lifetime through lifestyle changes, but the new study suggests that simply speaking more languages can improve how well the brain compensates for damage, Etu Ma'u, a psychiatrist at the University of Auckland who did not participate in the study, says in an expert reaction to the study compiled by the Science Media Center (New Zealand). In light of the new findings, he worries that proposed cuts to teaching the Māori Indigenous people’s language in New Zealand schools “could have unintended effects on brain health and aging.”

The paper’s results ultimately urge policymakers to integrate language learning into their health and education strategies, with particular significance for English-speaking countries. While 50 to 70 percent of the world is multilingual, most native English speakers are monolingual, Stephen May, a Māori and Indigenous education scholar at the University of Auckland who also was not involved in the study, explains in the same expert reaction.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/neuroscientists-studied-more-than-80000-people-and-found-that-speaking-multiple-languages-might-slow-down-brain-aging-180987708/