Bilingualism and Brain Health

Research from multiple studies is now suggesting that speaking more than one language delays the onset of dementia. This is assumed to be down to brain resilience, which is aided by bilingualism in a variety of ways.

Switching languages exercises the brain and gives a boost to the brain reserve or size. Someone with a greater reserve can sustain more natural damage due to ageing before reaching the dementia threshold because they have more neurons.

Then we have an improved cognitive reserve, where multilingualism is believed to also help the brain to use different pathways to access information as brain atrophy inevitably starts to set in as one starts to knock on a bit. Pathways are activated for related words in different languages.

Speaking more than one language is also now believed to help maintain the hippocampus, which although not the language centre is extremely important for the memory function. So if you want to give your brain a good workout, learning another language or brushing up on one could be just what a fine brain needs. As the old adage goes, use it or lose it.