'language learning protects against dementia'

Perhaps there is too much attention paid to young people's problems:

Jay Doubleyou: are young people failing to 'grow up'?

But older people also have problems - especially when it comes to learning languages:

Why is it harder to learn a new language when older? - Rosetta Stone

However, it's something we should be doing the older we get!

Why learning a language in retirement is a great idea - How to get fluent, with Dr Popkins

Gill Ragsdale writes for the E L Gazette:

Never too old to start

Language learning protects against dementia.

Language learning improves cognitive function, especially cognitive flexibility, in the over 65s, according to a Dutch study by Jelle Brouer and colleagues at the University of Groningen.

The proportion of the population over 65 in most countries is increasing as life expectancy increases and birth rates decline. Unfortunately, this phase of life is often accompanied by chronic ill health, one of these challenges being cognitive decline and dementia.

Life experiences which can reduce the risk or delay the onset of dementia include having more education and/or a challenging and stimulating job. Basically, the more cognitive stimulation a person has throughout life, the lower the risk.

One of the ways this might work is by increasing ‘cognitive reserve’. This is like having more money in the bank so that when the bills start coming in it takes longer to go bankrupt. What is less clear, is whether cognitive stimulation later in life can still be effective.

Learning a language is cognitively taxing and people who speak more than one language have been reported to delay the onset of Alzheimer’s by several years. Jelle’s study sought to establish whether language learning in later life could still improve cognitive function and consequently enlarge cognitive reserves...

The debate over the influence of age on language learning continues, but whether older people genuinely find language learning more challenging or not, the results of this study show that it is still very worthwhile to try.

Never too old to start - E L Gazette

And teaching a language when you are older is also challenging!

Jay Doubleyou: "the perils of teaching a foreign language"

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