Hearing aids could benefit approximately 28 million people. This means that 28 million people would here their world better if they had hearing aids. But your hearing aids will also help you enjoy some other health benefits.
Your physical and mental health can, as it so happens, be improved by something as simple as wearing hearing aids. These tiny devices can help prevent (or forestall) everything from injury from a fall to depression. Your hearing aids can literally help you stay on your feet.
Mental Health Benefits of Hearing Aids
The link between untreated hearing loss and mental decline is rather well established by modern medical studies. Mental illnesses including dementia, cognitive decline, anxiety, and depression, in line with current thinking, can be induced by hearing loss as a consequence of a mix of physical, mental and social factors.
So it’s no surprise that recent analyses has shown that hearing aids may have substantial mental health advantages.
Dementia Risks Decreased
According to one study, wearing your hearing aids can help lower your risk of developing dementia by up to 18%. And all you have to do to make the most of this amazing advantage is remember to wear your hearing daily.
In other studies, the arrival of dementia was slowed by as much as two years by wearing hearing aids. Further research needs to be carried out to help explain and replicate these findings, but it’s certainly encouraging.
Depression And Anxiety Can be Decreased
Depression and anxiety are not symptoms that are unique to those who suffer from hearing loss. But individuals with hearing loss have been shown to have a higher risk of anxiety and depression over time.
Wearing your hearing aids can help you stay socially active and mentally connected. Hearing aids can be particularly helpful if those factors are contributing to depression and anxiety.
You Won’t be as Lonely
While dementia may sound much more extreme, isolation can be a serious issue for individuals with untreated hearing loss, caused by and exacerbating a sense of social isolation. That social isolation can cause substantial changes to your mood. So it can be a huge benefit if your hearing aids can help you stay socially active.
To be sure, this is connected to your hearing aids’ ability to decrease the risks of depression, for instance. To a certain degree, all of these health conditions connect in some way.
Hearing Aids And Physical Benefits
As your hearing impairment worsens, there is some research that shows that you may be at a higher risk of stroke. But these studies are in preliminary phases. It’s a little easier to recognize the more obvious physical benefit of hearing aids: you won’t fall as often.
There are a couple of explanations for this:
- Situational awareness:
- Fall detection: Sometimes, it’s not the fall that’s hazardous. Rather, it’s that you can’t get back up that creates possible danger. Many new models of hearing aids have fall detection as a standard feature. With specific settings enabled, when you take a tumble, a call will immediately be made to one of your pre-programmed emergency contacts so they know to check up on you.
As you grow older falling down can have a devastating impact on your health. So your overall health can be safeguarded by reducing damage from falls or preventing them entirely.
Wear Your Hearing Aids Everyday
It’s worth noting that all of these benefits apply to those who have hearing ailments. If you have healthy hearing, then wearing a hearing aid will most likely not decrease your risk of cognitive decline, for example.
But wearing your hearing aids, if you do have hearing loss, is the smartest thing you can do for general health.