Scientists Have Named an Unexpected Way to Preserve Brain Youth

People who speak multiple languages age more slowly on average in terms of cognitive and behavioral indicators.

Scientists reached this conclusion after analyzing data from more than 86 thousand residents of Europe aged 51 to 90 years.

This is reported by The Conversation portal.

With age, many face deterioration in memory, attention, and the ability to cope with everyday tasks. At the same time, some maintain mental clarity until deep old age, while others lose it much earlier. Scientists increasingly cite multilingualism as one of the factors that can protect the brain.

When a person speaks two or more languages, all of them remain active in the brain. Each time during communication, the brain has to select the necessary language and suppress the others.

This constant "training" strengthens neural networks responsible for attention, control, and task switching.

In a new study, scientists used machine learning methods to assess the so-called "biobehavioral age" of participants. The algorithm took into account memory, level of daily activity, education, mobility, and comorbidities. The difference between this calculated age and the actual one showed whether a person is aging faster or slower than normal.

Then the researchers compared this data with the level of multilingualism in different countries. The analysis included 27 countries. In countries such as Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Finland, and Malta, speaking multiple languages is widespread. In the United Kingdom, Hungary, and Romania, on the contrary, monolingualism is more common.

The result was unambiguous: residents of countries with high levels of multilingualism less frequently demonstrated signs of accelerated aging. Even knowledge of one additional language reduced the risk, and speaking two, three, or more languages enhanced the effect. Scientists note a "dose-dependent" relationship: each new language provided additional protection.