Something like 28 million individuals could benefit from wearing hearing aids. This means that 28 million people would here their environment clearer if they wore hearing aids. But your hearing aids can also help you enjoy some other health advantages.
As it turns out, something as easy as wearing your hearing aids could help your physical and mental health. Everything from a risk of falling to depression can be delayed or even prevented by these devices. In more ways than one, your hearing aids can help you stay on your feet.
Mental Health Advantages of Hearing Aids
Modern medical research has solidly established a connection between cognitive decline and hearing loss. The current thinking is that, for a combination of social, mental, and physical reasons, hearing loss can trigger an escalated danger of mental illness, including anxiety, depression, cognitive decline, and dementia.
So the mental health benefits of hearing aids shouldn’t be very unexpected.
Dementia Risks Decreased
Your risk of dementia can be lowered, as reported by one study, by nearly 20%. And all you have to do to take advantage of this awesome advantage is remember to wear your hearing daily.
In other research, the onset of dementia was slowed by as much as two years by using hearing aids. Further research needs to be carried out to help explain and duplicate these results, but it’s certainly encouraging.
Decrease Anxiety And Depression
Many individuals suffer from anxiety and depression even if hearing loss is not a problem for them. 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 involved and mentally engaged. If those factors were contributing to depression and anxiety, they can help.
You Won’t Feel as Lonely
While it might not seem as dire or important as dementia, for individuals who have untreated hearing loss, loneliness can be a real problem, social isolation often being the cause and adding fuel to the fire. That social separation can cause substantial changes to your mood. So being able to continue to be social and engaged thanks to your hearing aid can be a great advantage.
And this is a good reason why, for instance, your hearing aid can help counter conditions like depression. To a certain degree, all of these health conditions are linked in some way.
The Physical Benefits of Hearing Aids
As your hearing impairment worsens, there is some evidence that you may be at a higher risk of stroke. But that specific research is undoubtedly on the preliminary side. It’s a little easier to recognize the more pronounced physical advantage of hearing aids: you’ll fall less frequently.
This occurs for two reasons:
- Fall detection: In some cases, 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 built in. You can save emergency phone numbers into your phone which will automatically be called if you take a tumble.
- Situational awareness: This means you’ll be more capable of steering clear of obstacles that might cause a fall. If your pet, for instance, is zooming out to greet you, you will be able to hear them coming and will be ready for them to be running under your feet.
Falling can have pretty substantial health impacts, especially as you get older. So avoiding falls (or reducing the damage from falling) can be a significant advantage that ripples throughout your overall health.
Wear Your Hearing Aids Everyday
It’s worth keeping in mind that all of these advantages apply to people who have hearing ailments. If your hearing is healthy, then using a hearing aid will probably not reduce your risk of cognitive decline, for instance.
But using your hearing aids, if you do have hearing loss, is the best thing you can do for overall health.