Research has demonstrated that being bilingual can delay the onset of Alzheimer’s. According to a recent study, bilingual people with Alzheimer’s have larger hippocampi than monolingual people, which is a crucial part of the brain for memory. Despite Alzheimer’s-related changes, this brain resilience aids in maintaining cognitive abilities. The findings indicate that bilingualism promotes general brain health as we age.
The benefits of bilingualism for older adults’ cognitive abilities have long been known. Research indicates that it may delay the onset of Alzheimer’s by up to five years compared to monolingual adults [1]. This is one of the various lifestyle choices that could support brain resilience as we age.
In a recent study, researchers from Concordia University used neuroimaging techniques to investigate brain resilience in brain regions associated with aging and language.
When they matched bilinguals with Alzheimer’s disease for age, education, memory, and cognitive function, they discovered that their hippocampi were significantly larger than those of monolinguals.
According to the lead author, Kristina Coulter, the hippocampus, which is the primary area of the brain involved in learning and memory and is severely impacted by Alzheimer’s, had more brain matter.
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition published the research [2].
About the Research
The researchers examined and compared the brain characteristics of monolingual and bilingual older persons who were either cognitively normal, at risk states of mild cognitive impairment or subjective cognitive decline, or who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
They discovered that although monolingual people with Alzheimer’s and mild cognitive impairment showed signs of hippocampus shrinkage, bilinguals showed no change in hippocampus volume during the course of Alzheimer’s development.
Coulter observed that the brain volume in the Alzheimer’s-related area was consistent among healthy older individuals, the two risk states, and the Alzheimer’s group in bilingual participants. This implies that bilingualism may be associated with some form of brain maintenance.
Localized Resilience
The three components of brain resilience—a term that describes the brain’s capacity to deal with changes brought on by aging—are brain maintenance, brain reserve, and cognitive reserve.
Brain maintenance refers to the brain’s ability to preserve its form and function as it ages. Mental stimulation, such as bilingualism, combined with other lifestyle factors like a healthy diet, regular exercise, adequate sleep, and sensory health, is thought to help protect the brain against deterioration.
Brain reserve refers to the brain’s structure and size. Even when aging causes damage or shrinkage, including from degenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s, brains with greater reserve can continue to operate normally due to the additional volume or capacity of brain matter.
Cognitive reserve describes how a brain can employ alternative pathways to maintain function even after experiencing damage or age-related shrinkage.
The lifetime accumulation of cognitive flexibility allows brains with higher cognitive reserve to employ different brain regions than those usually linked to a particular function, like language or memory.
According to Coulter, there was no bilingualism-associated brain reserve in the brain’s language-related parts or cognitive reserve in the brain’s Alzheimer’s-related areas.
Significance of the Study
The study’s corresponding author, Natalie Phillips, a professor in the psychology department and the Concordia University Research Chair (Tier 1) in Sensory-Cognitive Health in Aging and Dementia, said that speaking multiple languages is one of many ways to be socially and cognitively engaged, which supports brain health.
This research study was unique, she added, because it examined the possible impact of bilingualism on brain structure across the dementia risk spectrum, from people who were cognitively normal to those who are more likely to develop Alzheimer’s to those who already have the disease.
The Concordia researchers’ further investigation will examine whether multilingualism has a similar beneficial impact on brain networks.
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References
- Alladi, S., Bak, T.H., Duggirala, V., Surampudi, B., Shailaja, M., Shukla, A.K., Chaudhuri, J.R. and Kaul, S., 2013. Bilingualism delays age at onset of dementia, independent of education and immigration status. Neurology, 81(22), pp.1938-1944.
- Coulter, K. and Phillips, N.A., Bilinguals show evidence of brain maintenance in Alzheimer’s disease. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, pp.1-10.
- Bilingualism Boosts Brain Resilience, Delaying Alzheimer’s Onset. Neuroscience News. https://neurosciencenews.com/bilingualism-alzheimers-delay-27914/. Published Online: 22nd October, 2024. Accessed: 19th November, 2024.
- Bilingualism linked to greater brain resilience in older adults. News Medical. https://www.news-medical.net/news/20241022/Bilingualism-linked-to-greater-brain-resilience-in-older-adults.aspx. Published Online: 22nd October, 2024. Accessed: 19th November, 2024.
