Make no mistake: Keeping your mind sharp and preventing cognitive conditions like dementia and Alzheimer’s can be accomplished in a number of ways. Remaining social is one of the most essential while engaging in the workforce seems to be another. No matter the method, though, managing hearing loss by using hearing aids makes these activities much easier and contributes in its own way to battling cognitive issues.
These disorders, according to many studies, are often directly linked to hearing loss. This article will lay out the connection between cognitive decline and hearing loss and how wearing hearing aids can reduce the probability of these conditions becoming an imminent issue.
How Hearing Loss Contributes to Cognitive Decline
The connection between hearing loss and cognitive decline has been examined numerous times over the years by scientists at Johns Hopkins. The results of each study told the same story: cognitive decline was more prevalent with individuals who suffer from hearing loss. In fact, one study showed that people with hearing loss were 24% more likely to develop Alzheimer’s than people with healthy hearing.
Hearing loss by itself does not cause dementia, but there is a connection between these conditions. When you can’t effectively 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 spend so much of that energy on more basic tasks.
Hearing loss can also have a serious affect on your mental health. Anxiety, social isolation, and depression have all been associated with hearing loss and there may even be a connection with schizophrenia. Staying socially active, as mentioned, is the best way to protect your mental health and preserve your cognitive clarity. In many cases, hearing loss causes individuals to feel self-conscious around others, which means they’ll turn to seclusion instead. The lack of human contact can produce the other mental health issues mentioned above and eventually lead to cognitive impairments.
How a Hearing Aid Can Help You Safeguard Your Mental Faculties
Hearing aids are possibly one of the best tools we have to maintain mental sharpness and fight disorders like dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Unfortunately, the majority of people who require hearing aids don’t wear them. It might 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.
When your hearing is harmed for an extended amount of time, the brain may forget how to identify some common sounds and will need to learn them all over again. It’s essential to let your brain get back to processing more important tasks and hearing aids can do just that by preventing this issue in the first place and helping you relearn any sounds the brain has forgotten.
If you want to learn what options are available to help you begin hearing better get in touch with us.