Today I came across an article entitled, “Would you learn a new language if it helped your health?” In it the authors were referring specifically to the correlation between those who are bilingual and the lower/delayed rates of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease they seem to have. All of what they had to say intuitively made sense to me. And from my own personal experience, learning another language also increases your creative capacities.
In this two part series, the next article scheduled for Tuesday, April 17th, I will explore the links between language and creativity.
Before I continue with my experience, here’s a clip from the article:
Would you learn a new language if it would help your health? You may have heard that bilingual children actually have more brainpower than kids who grow up speaking only one language. (Learn more about the cognitive advantages that bilingual kids have here.)
But could speaking multiple languages help you at the other end of life as well? Neuroscientists now say yes. Bilingualism appears to protect against dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. In a recent study, Dr. Ellen Bialystok at York University found that in bilingual patients with dementia, the disease had a later onset than in monolingual patients. On average, being bilingual delayed the disease by four to five years.
Why does being bilingual protect against dementia? Regularly speaking two languages strengthens different parts of the brain. This exercise helps what neuroscientists call “executive control,” which refers to complex cognitive skills like planning, working memory, mental flexibility, and many other important functions. These skills are the first to disappear as we age, but some activities (like eating well, exercising regularly, and doing word puzzles) have been shown to stave off mental decline in old age. Apparently, being bilingual has a similar impact.
For the full article, click here.
Again, not only does learning another language improve your health, the utilization of different parts of the brain, as well as experience the world through a different cultural lens does wonders for your creativity.
Next time I will go into my personal experience of learning another language and how it helped my creativity.