Hearing aids could help about 28 million people. Of course, when we talk about data like that, we normally mean that those 28 million individuals would hear their surroundings a little bit more clearly if they had some help (like hearing aids). But there are also certain other, fairly surprising health benefits that you can start to take advantage of thanks to your hearing aids.
Your physical and mental health can, as it so happens, be helped by something as easy as wearing hearing aids. Everything from a risk of falling to depression can be slowed or even prevented by these devices. In many ways, your hearing aids can help keep you on your feet.
Mental Health Benefits of Hearing Aids
Modern medical studies have solidly established a link between cognitive decline and hearing loss. Mental illnesses like dementia, cognitive decline, anxiety, and depression, in line with current thinking, can be triggered by hearing loss due to a mix of physical, mental and social factors.
So the mental health benefits of hearing aids shouldn’t be all that striking.
Reducing Your Risk of Dementia
Based on one study, wearing your hearing aids can help decrease your chances of developing dementia by up to 18%. And all you have to do to make the most of this amazing benefit is remember to wear your hearing daily.
In other studies, the onset of dementia was delayed by as much as two years by wearing hearing aids. This is really inspiring and with more research conducted to duplicate and clarify these figures, we can come a long way in the fight against mental decline and illness.
Reduce Depression And Anxiety
Countless individuals suffer from depression and anxiety even if hearing loss is not a problem for them. But there’s plenty of evidence to suggest that those who have hearing loss are at a higher risk of developing both anxiety and depression as time goes on.
When you have hearing aids, you tend to stay more tuned in mentally and engaged socially. Hearing aids can be especially helpful if those factors are contributing to depression and anxiety.
You’ll Feel Less Lonely
While dementia may sound much more extreme, solitude can be a big issue for people with untreated hearing loss, social solitude often being the cause and worsening symptoms. That social separation can cause significant changes to your mood. So it can be a huge advantage if your hearing aids can help you stay socially active.
To be certain, this ties together with your hearing aids’ ability to decrease the risks of depression, for instance. All of these health issues, to some extent, are in some manner connected.
The Physical Benefits of Hearing Aids
There is some data which suggests that as hearing loss symptoms become more noticeable, your danger of stroke escalates. But that particular research is undoubtedly in the preliminary stages. The most obvious (and perceptible) physical advantage of hearing aids is a little simpler: you’ll fall less often.
There are a couple of reasons for this:
- Fall detection: Sometimes, it’s not the fall that’s dangerous. Rather, it’s your inability to get back up that can be a real problem. Many new models of hearing aids come with fall detection as a standard feature. You can save emergency phone numbers into your phone which will automatically be called if you take a tumble.
- Situational awareness:
Falling can have pretty significant health impacts, especially as you get older. So your overall health can be safeguarded by reducing damage from falls or preventing them entirely.
Make Certain You Wear Your Hearing Aids
These advantages, it’s worth mentioning, pertain to individuals who suffer from hearing impairment. If your hearing is healthy, then using a hearing aid will probably not decrease your risk of cognitive decline, for instance.
But if you do have hearing loss, the smartest thing you can do for your hearing, and for the rest of your body, is to use your hearing aids.
