Hearing aids could help approximately 28 million people. This means that 28 million people could here their environment clearer if they had hearing aids. But your hearing aids will also help you enjoy some other health benefits.
Your physical and mental health can, as it so happens, be helped by something as easy as using hearing aids. These little devices can help prevent (or delay) everything from injury from a fall to depression. 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 firmly established a link between hearing loss and cognitive decline. Mental illnesses like dementia, cognitive decline, anxiety, and depression, according to current thinking, can be triggered by hearing loss as a consequence of a mix of physical, mental and social factors.
So it’s no surprise that the latest analyses has suggested that hearing aids may have considerable mental health advantages.
Reducing Your Risk of Dementia
According to one study, wearing your hearing aids can help decrease your risk of developing dementia by up to 18%. That’s a wonderful advantage when the only thing you have to do is remember to wear your hearing aids on a daily basis.
Other studies have suggested that wearing your hearing aids on a regular basis can slow the onset of dementia by as many as two years. Further research needs to be carried out to help explain and duplicate these findings, but it’s definitely encouraging.
Anxiety And Depression Can be Decreased
Many individuals suffer from depression and anxiety even if hearing loss is not a problem for them. But there is enough evidence to suggest that those who have hearing loss are at increased risk of developing both depression and anxiety as time goes on.
Wearing your hearing aids can help keep you socially involved and mentally connected. Hearing aids can be especially helpful if those factors are contributing to depression and anxiety.
You Won’t Feel as Lonely
While it may not sound as serious or imperative as dementia, for individuals who have untreated hearing loss, isolation can be a real issue, caused by and exacerbating a sense of social solitude. That social isolation can cause considerable changes to your disposition. So being able to remain social and engaged thanks to your hearing aid can be a great advantage.
To be certain, this ties together with your hearing aids’ ability to reduce the risks of depression, for example. All of these health issues, to a certain degree, are in some way connected.
The Physical Benefits of Hearing Aids
There is some data which indicates that as hearing loss symptoms become more noticeable, your risk of stroke goes up. But that particular research is undoubtedly on the preliminary side. The most pronounced (and noticeable) physical advantage of hearing aids is a little more straightforward: you’ll fall less frequently.
This takes place for two reasons:
- Situational awareness: Hearing aids can increase your situational awareness. If your pet, for instance, is zooming out to say hi, you will hear them coming and will be ready for them to be under your feet.
- Fall detection: Many times, it’s getting back up after a fall that is the real hazard, not the fall itself. Many new models of hearing aids come with fall detection as a standard feature. With certain settings enabled, when you take a tumble, a call will immediately be made to one of your pre-programmed emergency contacts so they will know to check up on you.
Falling can have very significant health effects, particularly as you age. So your general health can be protected by decreasing damage from falls or avoiding them altogether.
Be Certain to Wear Your Hearing Aids
It’s worth noting that all of these advantages apply to people who have hearing conditions. If you have healthy hearing, then using a hearing aid will probably not reduce your risk of dementia, for instance.
But if you do suffer from hearing loss, the best thing you can do for your hearing, and for the rest of your body, is to wear your hearing aids.