Make no mistake: there are several ways that you can preserve your mental acuteness and ward off disorders like cognitive decline, dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease. Remaining socially active is one of the most significant while participating in the workforce appears to be another. Whatever methods are used to combat cognitive decline, however, keeping your hearing strong and using hearing aids if you need them will be extremely helpful.
Many studies show that the conditions listed above are all connected to untreated hearing loss. What follows is a look at why hearing loss can lead to serious issues with your mental health and how solutions like hearing aids can help you keep your brain working at a higher level for a longer period of time.
The Relationship Between Hearing Loss And Cognitive Decline
The link between hearing loss and cognitive decline has been analyzed numerous times over the years by researchers at Johns Hopkins. The same story was told by each study: individuals with hearing loss experienced dementia and cognitive decline in higher rates than those without. One study revealed, in fact, that there was a 24% higher instance of Alzheimer’s in individuals who have impaired hearing.
Though dementia isn’t specifically caused by hearing loss there is certainly a connection. The primary theories indicate that your brain has to work overtime when you can’t properly process sounds. That means that tasks such as memory and cognition, which demand more energy, can’t function efficiently because your brain has to spend so much of that energy on more basic tasks.
Hearing loss can also have a serious impact on your mental health. Anxiety, depression, and social isolation have all been associated with hearing loss and there could even be a connection with schizophrenia. Remaining socially active, as noted, is the best way to protect 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 listed above are typically the result of the lack of human contact and can ultimately lead to significant cognitive decline.
How a Hearing Aid Can Help You Keep Your Resolution
One of the best resources we have to combat dementia and other cognition disorders such as Alzheimer’s is hearing aids. Sadly, the majority of people who require hearing aids don’t wear them. People may avoid hearing aids because they’ve had a negative experience in the past or perhaps they hold some kind of stigma, but the fact is that they are proven to help people hear better and preserve their cognitive functions for longer periods of time.
There are circumstances where particular sounds will have to be relearned because they’ve been forgotten after extended hearing damage. It’s important to let your brain get back to processing more important tasks and hearing aids can do just that by stopping this issue in the first place and helping you relearn any sounds the brain has forgotten.
Get in touch with us right away to find out what options are available to help you start hearing better in this decade and beyond.