Speaking Multiple Languages ​​May Help The Brain Age More Slowly

Speaking more than one language can do more than facilitate conversation; it may be related to how we age. In an analysis of over 86,000 people from 27 European countries, multilingualism was associated with a lower risk of accelerated aging. The finding reinforces the idea that keeping the brain cognitively active can be part of a healthier aging trajectory.

Aging doesn't happen the same way for everyone. Some maintain their physical and cognitive abilities for many years, while others show signs of aging earlier. Factors that can influence this process include education, physical capacity, metabolic health, cognition, and cardiovascular conditions.

New research suggests that speaking more than one language may also be related to slower aging, raising the possibility that frequent use of different languages ​​helps keep the brain and body more resilient throughout life.

To investigate this relationship, researchers analyzed data from 86,149 people from 27 European countries. Instead of looking only at chronological age, that is, the number of years each person had lived, they constructed a measure called biobehavioral age.

It combines different characteristics related to the individual's health and functioning to estimate whether their aging seemed to be happening faster or slower. Among the factors considered were functional capacity, education, and cognitive performance, but also cardiometabolic problems and sensory changes.

The researchers then compared this measure with the number of languages ​​spoken in each country and analyzed the data in two ways. First, they observed the differences between participants at a given time. Then, they used data tracked over time to verify whether multilingualism was associated with the likelihood of showing signs of accelerated aging later in life.

This longitudinal approach is especially important because it allows us to observe the relationship between language use and aging trajectory, and not just a snapshot of that moment.

The results were quite interesting. Multilingualism appeared to be associated with a lower probability of accelerated aging. In analyses performed at a given time, speaking more than one language was associated with an approximately 54% reduction in the chances of exhibiting an accelerated aging profile. In the longitudinal analysis, the relative risk was also lower, reaching approximately a 30% reduction.

On the other hand, monolingualism appeared to be associated with a higher risk of accelerated aging. These associations remained even after the researchers considered different linguistic, physical, social, and sociopolitical characteristics.

One possible explanation is that using different languages ​​requires the brain to constantly select one language, inhibit another, and switch between different linguistic systems. This process involves several cognitive functions and may contribute to what is called cognitive reserve, although this specific study did not directly demonstrate this mechanism.

The result also does not mean that learning a second language is a guarantee against dementia or that people who speak only one language necessarily age faster. The study found a population association, and did not prove that multilingualism alone is the cause of slower aging.

The size of the research, involving tens of thousands of people from different countries, makes the results particularly interesting. Still, the data themselves should be interpreted with caution: factors such as education, social conditions, access to healthcare, and cultural characteristics may be related to both multilingualism and healthy aging.

What the study adds is evidence that linguistic repertoire may be part of the set of factors associated with how we age, opening new questions about the relationship between language, cognition, and brain health throughout life.

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Multilingualism protects against accelerated aging in cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of 27 European countries

Lucia Amoruso, Hernan Hernandez, Hernando Santamaria-Garcia, Sebastian Moguilner, Agustina Legaz, Pavel Prado, Jhosmary Cuadros, Liset Gonzalez, Raul Gonzalez-Gomez, Joaquín Migeot, Carlos Coronel-Oliveros, Josephine Cruzat, Manuel Carreiras, Vicente Medel, Marcelo Adrián Maito, Claudia Duran-Aniotz, Enzo Tagliazucchi, Sandra Baez, Adolfo M. García, and Agustin Ibanez

Nature Aging. 5, pages 2340-2354 (10 November 2025)DOI: 10.1038/s43587-025-01000-2

Abstract: 

Aging trajectories are influenced by modifiable risk factors, and prior evidence has hinted that multilingualism may have protective potential. However, reliance on suboptimal health markers, small samples, inadequate confounder control and a focus on clinical cohorts led to mixed findings and limited applicability to healthy populations. Here, we developed biobehavioral age gaps, quantifying delayed or accelerated aging in 86,149 participants across 27 European countries. National surveys provided individual-level positive (functional ability, education, cognition) and adverse (cardiometabolic conditions, female sex, sensory impairments) factors, while country-level multilingualism served as an aggregate exposure. Biobehavioral factors predicted age (R2 = 0.24, r = 0.49, root mean squared error = 8.61), with positive factors linked to delayed aging and adverse factors to accelerated aging. Multilingualism emerged as a protective factor in cross-sectional (odds ratio = 0.46) and longitudinal (relative risk = 0.70) analyses, whereas monolingualism increased risk of accelerated aging (odds ratio = 2.11; relative risk = 1.43). Effects persisted after adjusting for linguistic, physical, social and sociopolitical exposomes. These results underscore the protective role of multilingualism and its broad applicability for global health initiatives.