Aging|The researchers had access to information on the language backgrounds, language learning and health of more than 86,000 people.
The summary is made by artificial intelligence and checked by a human.
Knowing and speaking several languages slows down the aging of the brain and protects health.
Multilinguals showed less signs of aging than those who only spoke one language.
The study was published by the scientific journal Nature Aging. More than 86,000 people from 27 European countries participated in it. Their health and fitness were measured in many ways.
Of languages learning and talking change and refresh the brain, it has been known.
Now, new research suggests that learning languages may offer other benefits. Studying languages and being multilingual also has the effect of slowing down the aging of our brain.
People who speak many languages show less signs of aging in their bodies than those who speak only one language, their mother tongue.
The researchers had access to information on the language backgrounds, language studies and health of more than 86,000 people.
The material was collected from 27 European countries. The study was published by a scientific journal Nature Aging.
Research led Agustín Ibáñez. He is a neuroscientist at Adolfo Ibáñez University in Santiago, Chile.
“We wanted to find out one of the shortcomings related to the study of aging: whether multilingualism can really slow down aging,” he tells science magazine Nature uutispalstalla.
The phenomenon has been studied in the past, but too few people have participated in the studies. In addition, aging has been measured unreliably, the researchers say.
This time the sample was huge, more than 86,000 people. They were between 51 and 90 years old.
Of people their current biological age was compared to their predicted, chronological age.
The predicted age takes into account several factors related to lifestyle, socioeconomic status, education and life activities.
The participants were measured, for example, for their heart condition and body metabolism. The researchers then compared the two types of age data they received, i.e. biological and chronological data, to how many languages the person spoke.
This information was based on what the subject himself said. Therefore, the study cannot say anything about how fluently the subject spoke the languages he knew.
If the person spoke at least two languages, he looked healthier than his age.
Those who spoke only one language had more than double the signs of early aging compared to those who spoke multiple languages.
The difference between the groups only increased if the multilingual person spoke two or three foreign languages.
“The sample was geographically very broad. The effect of language skills seemed to hold true, even after taking into account many factors that usually confound measurements”, comment Susan Teubner-Rhodes On Nature’s news page. He is a cognitive psychologist at Auburn University in Alabama.
The results can be confounded by a person’s wealth, education or the fact that he is an immigrant.
“The results show that multilingualism is an easy-to-use and affordable tool if you want to promote healthy aging,” says the study’s second lead author, Dr. Hernan Hernandez online magazine at MedicalXpress.
The protective effect on the body is cumulative, said the study’s lead author, Dr Lucia Amoruso MedicalXpressille.
According to Amoruso, the more languages a person speaks, the greater the protection against age-related deterioration.