Post Nº 5... You, Neuromyth, go away!

The myth I'm going to write about says: "A young child's brain can only manage to learn one language at a time."

Many people believe that learning a new language is problematic for the native language. Those who believe this imagine the brain as a closed box, with different little boxes in it, one of which is the "language's box". Thinking in this way, is easy to think that an additional language should be a hindrance for the native one.

Other people think that the new language does not involve a "capacity" problem, but it is a problem because the new language is not linked to the native in anyway. So, those things that have been learnt in one language have not been learnt in the other, and this disconnection generates confusion in the young child's mind.

The truth is that those children who learn more than one language in early ages have not any of these problems.

They can learn more than one language when they are very young, and it doesn't involve problems with the native language.

These children understand very well the structure and logic of the languages they manage, and because of this they have a good performance both in the oral and written language.

About the "no connection" between the two or more languages

If they learn things in one of the languages they manage, they get the knowledge as words, but also as images and as an idea. So, if they have the enough vocabulary, they are capable to explain and apply the new knowledge using any of their languages, and not only that used to learn it. Even, people who manage many languages learn things using their different languages, and after a while they don't remember in which language they learnt something or other.

A healthy lifestyle.

A healthy lifestyle is one that allows you to realize all your potential, to be disease-free, and to be happy. This ideal definition makes me wonder if in these days we can have one... Even more I wonder if it was possible to have it in the past, and if it will be possible in the future.
However, we have to think that it IS possible, but... What we must do to have it? How much is it? How long it takes?

Since we know a healthy lifestyle involves having a healthy body and mind, we can propose that some features or elements of it are the followings.

Eating healthy and palatable food, to have that things that your body needs. Eating of all kinds of food.  How often? Four times a day, and a mid-morning snack. Take care specially not to eat too much salt and fats. Include five portions of vegetables per day, and legumes twice a week, and so on...

Doing a lot of physical excercise. This is good for your cardiovascular system to your brain and other body's systems, as much as for your body's appearance.

Laughing enough, everytime, of everything and with everyone. Of course, always with respect.

Drinking at least two liters of water per day.

Reading a lot, to excersise your brain.

And, in the end, doing (almost) everything you can do with both your body and your mind, but avoiding excess. Except with love: you love in excess. You love everybody.