Let’s be clear: Keeping your mind sharp and avoiding cognitive disorders like dementia and Alzheimer’s can be accomplished in numerous ways. Remaining socially active is one of the most important while engaging in the workforce appears to be another. No matter the method, though, managing hearing loss by using hearing aids makes these activities a lot easier and contributes in its own way to battling cognitive problems.
Numerous studies show that the conditions listed above are all connected to neglected hearing loss. The following 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 functioning at a higher level for a longer period of time.
The Link Between Hearing Loss And Cognitive Decline
Scientists at Johns Hopkins have conducted numerous studies over the years to analyze the link between cognitive decline and hearing loss. The results of each study told the same story: people with hearing loss experienced dementia and cognitive decline in higher rates than those without. One study demonstrated, in fact, that there was a 24% higher instance of Alzheimer’s in individuals who have diminished hearing.
Even though dementia isn’t directly caused by hearing loss there is definitely a connection. The primary theories suggest that your brain must work overtime when you can’t effectively process sounds. That means that tasks such as cognition and memory, which require more energy, can’t function at full capacity because your brain has to spend so much of that energy on more simple tasks.
Hearing loss can also have a severe impact on your mental health. Research has shown that hearing loss is connected to anxiety, depression, and might even affect schizophrenia. All of these conditions also produce cognitive decline – as mentioned above, one of the best ways to preserve your mental acuity is to remain socially active. In many cases, hearing loss causes individuals to feel self-conscious around others, which means they’ll turn to isolation instead. The mental problems mentioned above are frequently the result of the lack of human interaction and can ultimately produce significant cognitive decline.
Keeping Your Mental Faculties Sharp With Hearing Aids
Hearing aids are perhaps one of the best tools we have to maintain mental acuity and fight conditions such as dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Sadly, most people who require hearing aids don’t wear them. People may stay away from hearing aids because they’ve had a bad 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 maintain 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. A hearing aid can either stop that scenario from occurring in the first place or assist you in relearning those sounds, which will allow your brain to focus on other, more essential tasks.
If you want to learn what options are available to help you begin hearing better give us a call.