Speaking a second language could delay dementia by five Years.
Speaking a second language increases “brain power” and delays Alzheimer’s disease by an average of five years, research suggests.
Bilingualism exercises the mind and builds up a “reserve” of brain power which can help it carry on functioning after dementia takes hold.
While the average monolingual person can suffer the first signs of memory loss and confusion in their mid-seventies, the symptoms of Alzheimer’s do not appear for those with a second language until their early eighties.
The effect is most apparent with people who regularly use their second language, but researchers believe that just having learnt one will help.
Even learning another language in middle age helps challenge the brain and build up reserves against memory loss, the study said.
Dr Ellen Bialystok, who led the research at York University in Toronto, Canada, cautioned that knowing a second language would not stop Alzheimer’s, just delay its impact.
Source: The Telegraph.
Source: The Telegraph.
