A psychologist at York University in Toronto, Canada, along with a group of researchers did a study that showed that elderly people who speak two languages or more, are diagnosed and have symptoms of Alzheimer's disease 4 years later than those elderly people who speak only one language, revealing the protective action of being bilingual on the negative effects of this disease.
These researchers indicate that the exercise of speaking two languages or more reinforces brain activities, such as memory and reasoning, for example, and because of that, the study continues to be carried out to demonstrate the structural differences of the brain between the elderly with bilingual Alzheimer and those who speak only one language.
How the study was done
This recently published study was done to continue other studies that showed that the use of more than one language in daily life improves brain activities. This new study was led by a psychologist named Ellen Bialystok, a researcher at York University in Toronto, Canada, and data for the study was collected at a clinic in Toronto, Canada, called Sam and Ida Ross Memory Clinic, between January from 2007 to December 2009.
To analyze the results, the researchers identified 102 elderly people with Alzheimer's who spent most of their lives regularly speaking at least two languages and 109 elderly people who had the same disease and who spoke only one language, and then applied a questionnaire to verify age., education level, what they had worked on and whether they were immigrants from other countries.
What the study showed
After carrying out these analyzes, scholars found that elderly people who spoke more than one language had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's after 4 years after those elderly people who spoke only one language, showing that being bilingual can protect the elderly against Alzheimer's disease, it helps to improve cognitive functions, such as memory, language, reasoning and perception.
Speaking another language, other than the mother tongue, was compared to other intellectual and social activities capable of stimulating the brain of these elderly people, so the researchers believe that being bilingual has a protective effect against the onset of Alzheimer's disease. It is important to highlight that speaking more than one language does not prevent the person from having Alzheimer's and other dementias, but it helps to delay the onset of symptoms.
In addition, to further demonstrate the benefits of speaking another language, these same researchers are continuing their research to understand the differences between the brain structures of elderly bilinguals who speak only their mother tongue.
