Speaking more than one language not only facilitates intercultural communication, but also strengthens cognitive functions that naturally weaken as the years pass. This is confirmed by a study published Monday on Natural agingwhich demonstrates that multilingualism protects the brain from accelerated aging, both cognitively and functionally. In the research, conducted by an international team of experts, data from 86,149 people from 27 European countries were analyzed and a relationship was found between speaking multiple languages and biological age. AND younger.
Scientists measured what they call the age gap biobehavioralthe difference between a person’s chronological age and actual age based on health, functioning, education, and other risk or protective factors. The researchers developed an AI-based model with which they tried to estimate a person’s age based on their health, cognitive ability and environment. The model took into account risk factors (such as hypertension, diabetes or hearing problems) and protective factors (such as education, cognition and functional capacity).
From this information, the algorithm calculated the predicted biological age. Subsequently, the researchers compared this value with the chronological age: if the difference was negative, it meant that the person had slowed down aging, appearing younger than the indicated years. And if the difference was positive, it would mean that he is aging faster than expected.
Chilean neuroscientist Hernán Hernández, co-author of the study, comments that the research grew out of previous work in which different risk factors were analyzed, such as pollution levels and the degree of democracy in a country. Then, “we found that in countries with lower democratic quality there was a stronger relationship with aging, as well as in those with a weaker economy,” he explains. In this analysis, those from Africa appeared first, followed by those from Latin America, Asia and Europe. “We knew that language is also linked to aging and decided to combine both studies,” he says.
The results are conclusive and based on a dose-dependent relationship: the greater the number of languages handled, the greater the protective effect. Additionally, monolingual people have a greater risk of accelerated aging than those who speak more than one language. “Not only do you gain an advantage, but monolingualism appears as a risk factor,” summarizes Hernández.
Her colleague, neuroscientist from the Basque Center for Cognition, Brain and Language, Lucía Amoruso, underlines the scale of the work: “Until now the evidence on the benefits of bilingualism has come from small studies, which are difficult to replicate. Here we work with data from more than 86,000 people in 27 European countries.” And the co-author of the study adds: “We had a unique opportunity to work with a huge amount of data, which allowed us to test this hypothesis in a much more robust way.”
The analyzes controlled for factors considered in previous research, such as socioeconomic background, years of education and migration patterns. “If you don’t control for these factors, you can’t isolate the effect you really want to observe. I think in this study we managed to do that: show the effect in a robust way, controlling everything within our reach and working with large populations,” says Amoruso.
The American linguist and neuroscientist Jason Rothman, not involved in the study, offers a simple analogy to understand how our brain acquires this protective ability: “Managing more than one language has a cognitive cost. The brain must keep different systems active at the same time and choose which one to use in each context”. Every time a bilingual speaker chooses a word, he deletes another, and every time he switches languages, he readjusts the brain networks that control attention and memory, functions that deteriorate with age.
“Multilingualism acts as a mental gym,” says Rothman, director of the Bilingual Brain and Experience Laboratory at Lancaster University (UK). The brain prioritizes activating a language and focusing its attention and resources on that language. “It turns out that bilinguals do this all the time. Without knowing it, they repress, focusing their attention on certain languages. And this is cognitively demanding,” adds this researcher, also a scientist at the Cognitive Research Center of the University of Nebrija.
“To handle more than one language in a sophisticated way we use a system called language control,” explains Rothman. This control is not only mental, but also has a physical basis. “There is a brain network involved in the control of language, and that network largely overlaps with our executive function system,” he adds. It is what regulates general cognition, memory, attention and the capacity for innovation. That is, the same processes that are constantly activated when we speak or change languages.
Other healthy habits also strengthen these brain networks, such as exercise, good nutrition, or mentally challenging work. But, unlike language, they are not practiced continuously. “You don’t run a marathon all day or train all the time,” Rothman compares. “In the language, yes.” According to this specialist, the balance between languages and the frequency with which they are used determine the degree of training of the brain. “The more you exercise the language control network, the stronger it becomes, just like muscles,” he explains. “Maybe as you age you lose strength, but if you train for a long time, you grow old with a strengthened foundation.”
Amoruso agrees: “When you speak multiple languages, they are all active at the same time. To use one you need to inhibit the others. This operation keeps the executive and attentional control networks active, precisely those that begin to decline with age. This is the central hypothesis.”
Languages as health policy
For the authors of this research, the promotion of multilingualism should not only be considered a cultural issue, but also an investment in public health. The study proposes an initiative aimed at promoting healthier aging by promoting the learning and use of different languages as a strategy as important as physical activity or good nutrition. “The study points in that direction: in the impact that its results can have on education and public health policies,” says Amoruso. «Education is one of the factors that most influences a person’s aging; there is a fairly direct relationship between the two”, he underlines.
Rothman shares the opinion and adds that not only should the teaching of other languages be implemented in schools, but it is also necessary to provide people with real opportunities to use them. Furthermore, it is emphasized that such promotion should not be limited to childhood, but should maintain the stimulus throughout life. “Language learning is an investment in cognitive health and how we age,” she says.
