If you can say “I’m getting long in tooth” in two or more languages, you might not be as old as you think.

A recent study by an international team of researchers suggests that individuals who speak more than one language age more slowly than those who don’t. In fact, this benefit increases with every additional language spoken.

The study’s power lies in its size, with more than 86,000 participants ages 51 to 90 across 27 European nations.

Researchers found that individuals who speak more than one language are twice as likely to experience slower biological aging. Conversely, monolinguists were twice as likely to age faster.

Scientists used artificial intelligence trained to recognize aging patterns on thousands of health and behavioral profiles. The AI crunched data on physical conditions like hypertension, diabetes, sleep problems and cardiovascular conditions.

The AI also considered age-protective factors such as education, cognition, functional ability and physical activity.

Together, these factors helped estimate biological age.

In a sense, our bodies are like car engines. How we drive and maintain our cars largely determines how long the engine lasts. Lots of factors influence biological age. Exercise. Mental health. Disease. Demographics. Consider it the wear and tear of the body’s cells.

Our chronological age is the number stamped on a driver’s license.

Scientists believe multilingualism slows aging because constantly managing multiple languages keeps the brain’s control systems active and resilient.

That translates to healthier functioning across the body however you say it.