By  Royane Real

Author of   “How You Can Be Smarter - Use Your Brain to Learn Faster, Remember Better and Be More Creative”

Recently there was a fascinating finding by Canadian researchers who were studying the brain health of a group of aging people.  These researchers discovered that people who had learned to speak more than one language and who continually used at least two languages on a daily basis were able to keep their mental faculties sharp longer than people who had only learned to use one language.

This discovery is quite similar to another finding by Dr. David Snowdon at the University of Kentucky. Dr. Snowdon conducted a decades long study of a group of nuns aged 75 to 106 years of age.   He discovered that those nuns who made the effort to keep learning new things throughout their lives were able to reach very advanced years with their thinking ability still intact.

Dr. Snowdon received permission from these nuns to study their brains after they died, because they wanted to make a contribution to scientific knowledge and help other people.  He discovered that many of the nuns who were able to function very well mentally in their later years actually had brains that were showing the plaques and tangles typical of Alzheimer’s disease.

These nuns should have been showing the signs of having Alzheimer’s disease during their later years, yet they seemed to be very healthy!  In spite of the fact that their brains were being attacked by Alzheimer’s, the nuns were still able to function normally.

Dr. Snowdon speculated that the reason for these nun’s good mental performance was because of their lifelong commitment to learning.  By keeping their brains very active with learning, their brains were able to create a lot of extra brain cell connections that could compensate for the brain cells that were sick and dying.

What do these studies mean for you?  There is increasing evidence that lifelong learning is a very good way of ensuring you can reach old age with your mind functioning well.

If you haven’t learned a second language yet, why not start now?  Even though it’s true that young people can learn second languages very easily, make the decision to learn a second language now just so that your brain can have a good workout.

As the research points out, learning a second language can give you lots of benefits besides helping your brain cells make more connections.  You can use your second language to help you order food in a restaurant or to make your trip to a foreign country more interesting.

If you already know a second language, why not look for every chance to use it?

( The above introductory comments were written by Royane Real.  If you want to learn more ways to get more productivity out of your brain, get my book:   “How You Can Be Smarter - Use Your Brain to Learn Faster, Remember Better and Be More Creative”  It’s available at  http://www.lulu.com/real )

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