Does a second language or music help protect the brain against ageing?
Speaking two or more languages daily appears to protect the brain in later life, with the strongest evidence for people who picked up a second language early in life. The available studies say nothing about music.
People who speak two or more languages daily have, on average, better cognitive functioning in old age than monolinguals. This is consistently visible across multiple studies involving hundreds to thousands of participants. An Indian study of people aged 60 and over found dementia in 4.9% of monolinguals versus 0.4% of bilinguals. A large European study (more than 86,000 participants from 27 countries) found that multilinguals had nearly twice as low a chance of accelerated biological ageing. A Scottish long-term study, in which the same people were tested at age 11 and again at age 70-plus, showed that bilinguals performed better than would be expected based on their early intelligence, even if they had learned the second language only as an adult.
The mechanism behind this advantage is called cognitive reserve: the brains of bilinguals appear to be more resistant to damage before symptoms become apparent. They show signs of dementia later, their cognition is better than one would expect given comparable brain pathology, and their decline proceeds more slowly in the later stages.
When you learn the second language does, however, matter. In the DELCODE study (746 participants), people who had used a second language daily early in life (between the ages of 13 and 30) benefited the most: they scored better on memory, working memory and executive functions. Those who became bilingual only in middle age had only a memory advantage. Those who started only in later life saw no measurable effect.
The evidence is not without dissenting voices. The large American SALSA study (1,499 older Latinos, followed for nine years) found no protective effect of bilingualism on the rate of cognitive decline. Another study of Mexican-American older adults also found no association between the degree of bilingualism and cognitive test scores after accounting for education and other factors. This suggests that the population group, the timing of measurement and the way of testing can strongly influence the picture.
No data on music are available in the studies provided, so that part of the question cannot be answered on the basis of this research. As far as bilingualism is concerned, daily active use counts the most. Learning a second language without speaking it regularly is unlikely to yield a cognitive benefit.
Eight studies: one large European cohort study (86,149 persons), one Scottish longitudinal study (853 persons), one German cohort study (DELCODE, 746 persons), one Indian community study (1,234 persons), two studies of Mexican-American older adults (SALSA: 1,499 persons; MoCA study: 547 persons), one review article on cognitive reserve and one literature review on executive functions. All human observational or cross-sectional. No RCTs. No data on music were provided.
Does learning a new language help keep your brain healthy?
Actively using two languages throughout your life is associated with a lower risk of dementia and a brain that continues to function well for longer, but learning a language as an adult does not yet provide comparable protection. If you want the benefits, it comes down to years of active use, not learning alone.
Does your brain age faster than the rest of your body?
Whether your brain ages faster than the rest of your body varies from person to person, but the consequences are significant: a biologically old brain increases the risk of Alzheimer's more than threefold. Keep an eye on your blood pressure, sleep and lifestyle, as these have the most demonstrable influence on brain ageing.
What can I do to keep my brain healthy as I age?
Combining more exercise with staying mentally active and eating a diet low in sugar and higher in omega-3 fatty acids currently gives you the best chance of a healthy brain. Spermidine and new insights into how the brain cleans itself are, for now, only interesting to follow.
Does a low dose of lithium help protect the ageing brain?
There are preliminary indications that low doses of lithium may offer brain protection, but the evidence is still too thin and the risks are real enough that lithium should only be used under medical supervision.
Do your brains really shrink as you get older?
Your brain does indeed shrink with age, particularly in areas involved in memory and planning. High blood pressure accelerates that process, while exercise and cognitive effort strengthen your brain's compensatory activity.
Do brain-training games help prevent cognitive decline?
Cognitive training has a demonstrable, albeit modest, benefit for people with Alzheimer's disease or mild dementia, but does not work for everyone, and in progressive MS no effect has been found at all. If you or a loved one is already experiencing memory problems, it is worth discussing this with a specialist.