Learning more languages may help you age more slowly

Researchers analyzed data from 86,149 adults, aged 51 to 90, across 27 European countries, using a "biobehavioral age gap" (BAG), a metric that compares a person's biological age (based on health, cognition, and physical condition) with their actual age. ^[1]

The protective effect, which rises with the number of languages spoken, was most beneficial to trilinguals and people who speak four or more languages. Multilinguals had a 30–40% lower chance of aging earlier than expected in the long run, according to both cross-sectional and longitudinal data.

The researchers found a connection between speaking more languages and delayed aging ^[2], even after adjusting for a wide range of potential confounding factors, including physical health, social and political context, and environment.

They also identified some drawbacks, such as the fact that while speaking two or more languages remained very protective as people aged, speaking just one additional language seemed to lose its extra benefits. Intriguingly, they found that the protective effect was weaker for those who had moved or lived in less gender-equal areas, suggesting that stress or social pressures could reduce the benefit.

Why It Matters

If further studies show a causal relationship, promoting multilingualism could be included in public health programs to increase cognitive skills and prevent age-related decline.

Such results lend proof to the idea that, in addition to being beneficial for communication and culture, multilingualism might help the brain and body to age healthily.

What to Keep in Mind

This study cannot prove that learning a language slows down aging because it is observational.
A recent study evaluated multilingualism just at the national level rather than measuring individual fluency or frequency of language use.

Future research must focus on an individual's personal language history - when they learned their languages, how well they speak them, and how often they use each, in order to better understand the potential effect of each language on aging.