Speaking more than one language can delay the onset of dementia
Dementia is an umbrella term for several diseases, like Alzheimer's, that affect a person's memory, thinking and ability to do daily activities.
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It's time to revive your Duolingo owl! Sadly, dementia has become an increasingly common disease that, by last year, affected more than 55 million people in the world, with nearly 10 million new cases arising every year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Dementia is an umbrella term for several diseases, like Alzheimer's, that affect a person's memory, thinking and ability to do daily activities. This tends to happen to older people, and the symptoms worsen over time, depending on how quickly the disease advances.
But, recent studies have shown that speaking two languages, especially from a young age, can delay the onset of dementia by up to five years. And if you speak more than two languages, it could help delay dementia for even longer. Bilingual or multilingual people have a greater cognitive reserve, which means that their brains are more resilient to the disease.
Clinical neuroscientist Tommasso Ballarini, at the German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases in Berlin, says that bilingualism may promote neuroplasticity – "the ability of the brain to reorganize itself in response to experiences and learning."
Dr. John Grundy at Iowa State University explains, "When you get older, and the frontal lobes begin to fail, if they have a good working relationship with other parts of the brain, it can work around deficiencies in the frontal lobes to compensate."
While researchers aren't able to say exactly what age is best to learn a second language, it's more important to note "the frequent use of the languages in daily life," said Ballarini, which is a belief also backed by Caitlin Ware, a researcher at Broca Hospital in Paris, who studies bilingualism and brain health.
And speaking more than one language isn't just about boosting your brain strength – there are plenty of real-world benefits, too. "The advantage of being bilingual doesn't really lie on these milliseconds of advantage that one can have in a cognitive task," says Dr. Blanco-Elorrieta, a language researcher at Harvard. "I think the importance of being bilingual is being able to communicate with two cultures and two ways of seeing the world."
So, no matter what age you are, learning a new language is undoubtedly good exercise for your brain.
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