According to a research conducted at York University in Toronto, Canada, bilingualism can actually help in delaying dementia by five years.

Study suggested that on an average, a person who knows just a single language can suffer the symptoms of Alzheimer in the age of mid-seventies whereas signs of memory loss and confusion can pop up around early eighties in case of persons knowing more than one language.

Researchers emphasized that this finding holds true only if the person is actively using the second language. They stated that learning a new language in the middle age can also provide a challenge to the brain which helps in building up reserves against memory loss.

Speaking at the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in Washington, Dr. Ellen Bialystok said, “It won’t stop you getting Alzheimer’s disease but you can cope with the disease for longer. Switching between languages is a stimulating activity and it is like carrying out brain exercises which builds up higher levels of what we call brain or cognitive reserve”.

She stated that learning a language is more challenging for brain as compare to taking up crosswords or Sudoku.

Explaining this interesting phenomenon, she said that learning more than one language boosts an area of the brain known as the “executive control system” in the frontal lobe that governs memory, learning, language and reasoning.