Make no mistake: there are a few ways that you can preserve your mental acuity and stave off conditions such as cognitive decline, dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease. Staying socially active is one of the most significant while engaging in the workforce seems to be another. No matter the method, though, managing hearing loss through hearing aids makes these activities a great deal easier and contributes in its own way to battling cognitive problems.
Numerous studies show that the disorders listed above are all connected to untreated hearing loss. This article will outline the relationship between cognitive decline and hearing loss and how wearing hearing aids can minimize the probability of these conditions becoming an impending issue.
How Hearing Loss Contributes to Cognitive Decline
Researchers at Johns Hopkins have conducted several studies over the years to examine the connection between cognitive decline and hearing loss. The same story was told by each study: cognitive decline was more prevalent with people who suffer from hearing loss. In fact, one study revealed that individuals with hearing loss were 24% more likely to develop Alzheimer’s than those with healthy hearing.
Hearing loss by itself does not cause dementia, but there is a connection between the two conditions. The leading theories suggest that your brain must work overtime when you can’t effectively process sounds. That means your brain is spending more valuable energy on relatively simple activities, leaving a lot less of that energy for more advanced processes such as memory or cognitive functions.
Your mental health can also be significantly impacted by hearing loss. Anxiety, depression, and social isolation have all been associated with hearing loss and there might even be a connection with schizophrenia. Remaining socially active, as mentioned, is the best way to safeguard your mental health and preserve your cognitive clarity. Frequently, individuals who have hearing loss will resort to self isolation because they feel self conscious in public. The lack of human contact can produce the other mental health problems listed above and potentially lead to cognitive impairments.
Keeping Your Mental Faculties Acute With Hearing Aids
Hearing aids are probably one of the best tools we have to maintain mental sharpness and fight disorders such as dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. The problem is that only one in seven of the millions of people 50 or older who suffer from hearing impairment actually use a hearing aid. It may be a stigma or a previous negative experience that keeps people using hearing aids, but in fact, hearing aids have been shown to help people protect their cognitive function by helping them hear better.
There are situations where certain sounds will need to be relearned because they’ve been forgotten after extended hearing damage. A hearing aid can either stop that scenario from occurring in the first place or help you relearn those sounds, which will let your brain focus on other, more important tasks.
Contact us right away to find out what options are available to help you start hearing better in this decade and beyond.