Let’s be clear: Keeping your mind sharp and preventing cognitive conditions like dementia and Alzheimer’s can be accomplished in several ways. Social engagement and participation in the workforce are among the most noteworthy. Whatever methods you employ to combat cognitive decline, however, keeping your hearing strong and using hearing aids if you need them will be tremendously helpful.
Numerous studies show that the disorders listed above are all linked to neglected hearing loss. This article will lay out the connection between cognitive decline and hearing loss and how using hearing aids can reduce the likelihood of these conditions becoming an imminent issue.
How Hearing Loss Contributes to Cognitive Decline
The link between hearing loss and cognitive decline has been studied several times over the years by scientists at Johns Hopkins. The results of each study told the same story: cognitive decline was more prevalent with people who experience hearing loss. In fact, one study showed that individuals with hearing loss were 24% more likely to develop Alzheimer’s than those with healthy hearing.
Hearing loss alone does not cause dementia, but there is a connection between the two conditions. When you can’t properly process sound your brain has to work overtime according to leading theories. That means that activities like memory and cognition, which require more energy, can’t function efficiently because your brain has to use so much of that energy on more simple tasks.
Hearing loss can also have a severe impact on your mental health. Anxiety, social isolation, and depression have all been associated with hearing loss and there might even be a connection with schizophrenia. Staying socially engaged, as noted, is the best way to maintain your mental health and preserve your cognitive clarity. Frequently, individuals who have hearing loss will turn to self isolation because they feel self conscious in public. The mental problems mentioned above are typically the outcome of the lack of human contact and can inevitably lead to significant cognitive decline.
Keeping Your Mental Faculties Acute With Hearing Aids
One of the best resources we have to fight dementia and other cognitive disorders like Alzheimer’s is hearing aids. The problem is that only one in seven of the millions of people 50 or older who suffer from hearing impairment actually wear a hearing aid. People might avoid hearing aids because they’ve had a bad experience in the past or perhaps they have some kind of stigma, but in fact, hearing aids have been shown to help people preserve their cognitive function by helping them hear better.
There are situations where certain sounds will have to be relearned because they’ve been forgotten after extended hearing damage. A hearing aid can either stop that scenario from happening in the first place or help you relearn those sounds, which will enable your brain to focus on other, more essential tasks.
Get in touch with us right away to find out what options are available to help you begin hearing better in this decade and beyond.