Make no mistake: Keeping your mind clear and preventing cognitive disorders like dementia and Alzheimer’s can be accomplished in a number of ways. Social engagement and involvement in the workforce are among the most noteworthy. No matter the method, though, managing hearing loss by using hearing aids makes these activities much easier and contributes in its own way to preventing cognitive issues.
These disorders, according to numerous studies, are frequently directly linked to hearing loss. This article will lay out the relationship between cognitive decline and hearing loss and how using hearing aids can decrease the likelihood of these conditions becoming an imminent issue.
How Hearing Loss Contributes to Cognitive Decline
The connection between hearing loss and cognitive decline has been studied numerous times over the years by scientists at Johns Hopkins. The results of each study revealed the same story: cognitive decline was more common with individuals who experience hearing loss. Actually, one study revealed that individuals with hearing loss were 24% more likely to develop Alzheimer’s than those with healthy hearing.
Hearing loss alone does not cause dementia, but there is a connection between these conditions. The primary theories suggest that your brain has to work overtime when you can’t properly process sounds. That means that tasks such as cognition and memory, which demand more energy, can’t function at full capacity because your brain has to spend so much of that energy on more basic tasks.
Hearing loss can also have a significant impact on your mental health. Studies have shown that hearing loss is connected to depression, social isolation, anxiety, 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 sharpness is to remain socially active. Frequently, people who have hearing loss will turn to self isolation because they feel self conscious around other people. The mental issues listed above are frequently the outcome of the lack of human interaction and can inevitably lead to serious 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 combat disorders such as dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Sadly, most people who require hearing aids don’t wear them. It might be a stigma or a previous bad experience that keeps people wearing hearing aids, but the fact is that they are proven to help people hear better and preserve their cognitive functions for longer periods of time.
When your hearing is damaged for a prolonged amount of time, the brain may forget how to recognize some everyday sounds and will have to learn them all over again. A hearing aid can either prevent that scenario from occurring in the first place or assist you in relearning those sounds, which will enable your brain to focus on other, more important tasks.
Get in touch with us right away to discover what options are available to help you begin hearing better in this decade and beyond.
