Extract from The Sunday Times dated 23rd April 2017 and entitled: “Learning a language to delay dementia”
“…Learning a second language can delay the onset of some kinds of dementia by six years, according to new research.
Even five hours a week of learning can build up a “cognitive reserve” counteracting the effects of brain disease and boosting function in all age groups.
Thomas Bak, a neuroscientist at Edinburgh University, found that people benefited by attempting a second language even if they were far from fluent.
It defers the onset of a type of frontotemporal dementia by six years, Alzheimer’s by 3.2 years and stroke-related dementia by 3.7 years. “Compared with anything that drugs can do, these are very long periods,” he said...”