Wealthier people around the world will use special diets and exercise to protect themselves against the effects of ageing and conditions like dementia and Alzheimer’s — but not everyone has that opportunity.

Professor Jason Rothman’s research is helping to confirm the case for a free or cheaper alternative: the power of keeping up the use of other languages.

“The brain is a muscle, and just in the same way that going to the gym regularly will grow muscles in the body, there are ways to physically strengthen the neural pathways in the brain,” says Jason.

“It’s not just a case of learning a new language that’s important but the use of that language over time — being bilingual or multilingual — that has a physical effect. Using languages involves heavy lifting: continually making use of your memory, having to pay close attention and to inhibit the ‘noise’ from another language.”

The repeated, taxing effort involved with using different languages and switching between languages leads to the growth of trails of tissue in the brain. This, in turn, means protection against the natural degrading that happens in the brain as a result of ageing.

“Ageing, of course, depends on many different lifestyle factors, and languages don’t ‘cure’ dementia. But being bilingual or multilingual means building up cognitive reserves in terms of the structure and strength of neural pathways of the brain. Research suggests it leads to a delay of between four and seven years in the onset of dementia. And when you consider that there is currently no long-term treatment for Alzheimer’s, this is a really important area.”

Read more in Nature

This article was initially featured in issue four of Lancaster University's Global Research Newsletter.

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