The Brain Benefits of Being
Bilingual
January 14, 2016
Story at-a-glance
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Bilinguals enjoy enhanced cognitive control
abilities, more mental flexibility, and improved
handling of tasks involving switching, inhibition
and conflict monitoring
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Bilingual older adults have greater cognitive
reserve, a protective mechanism that may make your
brain better able to cope with disease
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Being bilingual appears to help ward off cognitive
decline including Alzheimers disease
By Dr. Mercola
More than half of the world's population is bilingual or
multilingual, which means if you only speak one language, you're
in the minority. This isn't the case in the U.S., where only
about 1 in 4 Americans speak a second language well enough to
hold a conversation.1
There are obvious benefits to being bilingual like the
ability to communicate with people from around the world for
business or social purposes. In the U.S., most people believe
learning a second language is valuable though not necessarily
essential.
In other areas of the world, however, numerous languages may
be spoken in a small geographic area. And even if your home life
doesn't necessitate another language, in today's digitally
connected world, your business life might.
This makes multilingualism a very valuable skill. For
instance, 722 different languages are spoken in Indonesia, 445
in India and more than 200 in Australia.2
In some areas, children may speak one language at home and be
educated in another.
This language acquisition is not only valuable for
communication, however it offers health benefits as well.
How Being Bilingual May Benefit Your Brain
Language is a challenging task for your brain, one that
demands even more resources if you're bilingual.
While it was once thought that children growing up with two
or more languages may be at a disadvantage, it turns out this
mental workout has benefits and may lead your brain to process
information more efficiently, even into old age.
For starters, bilingual brains have more grey matter,3
which includes neurons that function in cognition and
higher-order cognitive processes. Further, in comparison to
monolinguals, bilinguals enjoy:4
- Enhanced cognitive control abilities
- More mental flexibility
- Improved handling of tasks involving switching,
inhibition and conflict monitoring
These benefits extend to all ages, from children to older
adults. Bilingual children appear to have advantages in
visuospatial and verbal working memory compared to monolingual
children.5
In the elderly population, being bilingual may offer even
more advantages. Research suggests bilingual older adults have
greater cognitive reserve, a "protective mechanism that
increases the brain's ability to cope with pathology."6
This may be one reason why bilinguals also have delayed onset
of cognitive decline (by up to 4.5 years) compared to
monolinguals, even for dementia, including Alzheimer's disease.7
In other words, being bilingual appears to help ward off
cognitive decline. According to a study published in Neurology:8
"
[L]ifelong bilingualism confers protection
against the onset of AD [Alzheimer's disease]. The effect
does not appear to be attributable to such possible
confounding factors as education, occupational status, or
immigration.
Bilingualism thus appears to contribute to cognitive
reserve, which acts to compensate for the effects of
accumulated neuropathology."
Being Bilingual May Alter Neurological Structures in Your Brain
Bilingual brains show differences from monolingual brains in
terms of neuronal activation as well as in their actual
structure. There are differences within bilinguals as well,
which may be due to the different experiences of the
individuals.
For instance, people may learn two languages from birth
(simultaneous bilinguals) or they may learn a second language
later in life (successive bilingual). Even then, some people
switch between the two languages often and are proficient in
both while in others one language is dominant.
Among bilinguals with a higher proficiency in a second
language and earlier acquisition of that language, grey matter
volume in the left inferior parietal cortex is increased. It's
thought this may play a role in helping the individual balance
between the two languages.
White matter volume also changes in bilingual children and
older adults. This suggests being bilingual "not only changes
the way neurological structures process information, but also
may alter the neurological structures themselves."9
This is according to a report by Viorica Marian, Ph.D., chair
of the department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at
Northwestern University, and colleague Anthony Shook.10
The report continued:
"The cognitive and neurological benefits of
bilingualism extend from early childhood to old age as the
brain more efficiently processes information and staves off
cognitive decline.
What's more, the attention and aging benefits
aren't exclusive to people who were raised bilingual; they
are also seen in people who learn a second language later in
life.
The enriched cognitive control that comes along with
bilingual experience represents just one of the advantages
that bilingual people enjoy.
Despite certain linguistic limitations that have been
observed in bilinguals (e.g., increased naming difficulty),
bilingualism has been associated with improved
metalinguistic awareness (the ability to recognize language
as a system that can be manipulated and explored), as well
as with better memory, visual-spatial skills, and even
creativity."
You Can Still Learn a New Language as an Adult
It's often assumed that learning a second language as a child
is easier than learning one as an adult, but this isn't
necessarily true. In fact, some linguistic research suggests
adults may be better at language learning than
children, provided the proper conditions are met.
One advantage that adults have is pre-existing knowledge of
language how to build a sentence, elements of grammar,
punctuation and spelling, conceptual understanding of language,
all of these skills are still developing in children.
One area where children excel is in pronunciation, as they're
more skilled at identifying subtle sound differences. As such, a
child will be better able to mimic the sounds of the new
language, whereas an adult will have difficulty speaking the
language without their native accent.11
However, poor pronunciation is not an indicator of fluency
and typically will not get in the way of actual communication.
Children also have a lower standard of fluency than adults, who
must have a broader knowledge of the language in order to
communicate about a broader range of topics.
Children, meanwhile, may learn a language in a school setting
or in the home, where they have ample ability to practice. When
adults are given similar opportunities, they generally succeed
in learning the language.
As The Telegraph reported, "Adults who can't achieve success
in language learning, are often the ones who study at home using
educational software or apps. Without teacher support, or steady
conversation partners, it's easy for study to become
unstructured."12
Research published in Frontiers in Psychology continued:13
"In terms of the timing of bilingual experience,
while it is true that in general the earlier a second
language (L2) is learned, the more likely native-like
proficiency will be obtained [i.e., the age of acquisition
(AoA) effect
],
[I]t has now been recognized that very
high levels of proficiency in the L2 is possible even when
one learns the L2 late in life.
Even more encouraging is the evidence that the brain
shows considerable malleability as a result of language
learning experience, so that both functional and
neuroanatomical changes can occur across the lifespan."
So if you're an adult who would like to learn a second
language, it's not too late. For the best success, you may want
to consider taking a class at a community college where you can
get regular support and conversation partners as opposed to
learning it on your own.
What Else Can Boost Your Brain Health?
Some experts have suggested that the benefits of learning a
language come from just that
learning. Indeed, even if you're
not interested in learning a new language engaging in other
"purposeful and meaningful activities" stimulates your
neurological system, counters the effects of stress-related
diseases, reduces your risk of dementia and enhances health and
well-being.14
A key factor necessary for improving brain function or
reversing functional decline is the seriousness of purpose
with which you engage in a task. In other words, the task itself
can be virtually anything as long as it is important to you, or
somehow meaningful or interesting it must hold your attention.
For instance, one study revealed that craft activities such
as
quilting and knitting were associated with decreased odds of
having mild cognitive impairment.15
Another study found that taking part in "cognitively demanding"
activities like learning to quilt or take digital photography
enhanced memory function in older adults.16
The key is to find an activity that is mentally stimulating
for you. For some this may be learning a new language,
for others it may be something different entirely.
Ideally, this should be something that requires your
undivided attention and gives you great satisfaction
it should
be an activity that you look forward to doing, such as
playing a musical instrument, gardening, building model ships,
crafting or many others.
If you're serious about improving your memory and your
cognitive function, you can also incorporate these three
important variables for brain health.
Vitamin D
Activated vitamin D receptors increase nerve growth in
your brain, and researchers have also located metabolic
pathways for vitamin D in the hippocampus and cerebellum of
the brain, areas that are involved in planning, processing
of information, and the formation of new memories.
In older adults, research has shown that
low vitamin D levels are associated with poorer brain
function, and increasing levels may help keep older adults
mentally fit. Appropriate sun exposure is all it takes to
keep your levels where they need to be for healthy brain
function. If this is not an option, a high-quality tanning
bed is the next best alternative, followed by a vitamin D3
supplement.
Intermittent Fasting
Contrary to popular belief, the ideal fuel for your brain
is not glucose but ketones, which is the fat your body
mobilizes when you stop feeding it carbs and introduce
coconut oil and other sources of healthy fats into your
diet. A one-day fast can help your body to "reset" itself
and start to burn fat instead of sugar. Further, it will
help you to reduce your overall calorie consumption, which
promotes brain cell growth and connectivity.
As part of a healthy lifestyle, however, I prefer an
intermittent fasting schedule that simply calls for
limiting your eating to a narrower window of time each day.
By restricting your eating to a 6 to 8 hour window (try
eating only
two meals a day, such as breakfast and lunch or
lunch and dinner) you effectively fast 16 to 18 hours each
day.
Gut Health
Your gut is your "second brain," and your gut bacteria
transmits information to your brain via the vagus nerve, the
tenth cranial nerve that runs from your brain stem into your
enteric nervous system (the nervous system of your
gastrointestinal tract).
There is a close connection between abnormal gut flora
and abnormal brain development, and just as you have neurons
in your brain, you also have neurons in your gut including
neurons that produce neurotransmitters like serotonin, which
is also found in your brain and is linked to mood.
Quite simply, your
gut health can impact your brain function, psyche, and
behavior, as they are interconnected and interdependent in a
number of different ways. In addition to avoiding sugar, one
of the best ways to support gut health is to consume
beneficial bacteria.
You can use a probiotic supplement for this, but I'm
particularly fond of using
fermented vegetables, because they can deliver
extraordinarily high levels of beneficial bacteria.
Most people aren't aware that in a healthy serving of
sauerkraut two to three ounces or so you're getting the
equivalent of nearly 100 capsules of the highest-potency
probiotic you can buy. It's clearly one of the most
cost-effective alternatives.
© Copyright 1997-2016 Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights Reserved.
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