Make no mistake: Keeping your mind clear and avoiding cognitive conditions including dementia and Alzheimer’s can be accomplished in several ways. Remaining socially active is one of the most significant while engaging in the workforce appears to be another. No matter the method, though, managing hearing loss through hearing aids makes these activities much easier and contributes in its own way to battling cognitive problems.
These conditions, according to many studies, are often directly connected to hearing loss. The following is a look at why hearing loss can cause serious issues with your mental health and how solutions like hearing aids can help you keep your brain running at a higher level for a longer period of time.
The Relationship Between Hearing Loss And Cognitive Decline
Scientists at Johns Hopkins have conducted numerous studies over the years to analyze the connection 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. Actually, one study demonstrated that individuals with hearing loss were 24% more likely to develop Alzheimer’s than those with healthy hearing.
Though dementia isn’t directly caused by hearing loss there is definitely a connection. The leading theories suggest that your brain must work overtime when you can’t properly process sounds. That means that activities like cognition and memory, which require more energy, can’t function efficiently because your brain has to use so much of that energy on more simple tasks.
Hearing loss can also have a serious affect on your mental health. Research has shown that hearing loss is connected to anxiety, depression, and might even affect schizophrenia. Remaining socially active, as noted, is the best way to maintain your mental health and preserve your cognitive clarity. Frequently, people who have hearing loss will turn to self isolation because they feel self conscious in public. The lack of human contact can lead to the other mental health issues listed above and potentially lead to cognitive impairments.
How a Hearing Aid Can Help You Safeguard Your Mental Faculties
One of the best resources we have to fight dementia and other cognition disorders such as Alzheimer’s is hearing aids. The problem is that only one out of seven of the millions of people 50 or older who suffer from hearing impairment actually use a hearing aid. People may steer clear of hearing aids because they’ve had a bad experience in the past or maybe they have 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 situations where certain sounds will need to be relearned because they’ve been forgotten after extended hearing damage. It’s important to help your brain go 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.
Get in touch with us today to find out what options are available to help you begin hearing better in this decade and beyond.