Make no mistake: there are several ways that you can maintain your mental acuteness and fend off disorders such as dementia, cognitive decline, and Alzheimer’s disease. Social engagement and involvement in the workforce are among the most notable. Whatever methods are used to combat cognitive decline, however, keeping your hearing strong and using hearing aids if you need them will be immensely helpful.
Many studies show that the disorders listed above are all linked to untreated hearing loss. This article will lay out the link between cognitive decline and hearing loss and how wearing hearing aids can decrease the probability of these conditions becoming an imminent problem.
The Link Between Hearing Loss And Cognitive Decline
Scientists at Johns Hopkins have carried out numerous studies over the years to analyze the link between hearing loss and cognitive decline. The results of each study revealed the same story: individuals with hearing loss suffered from dementia and cognitive decline in higher rates than those without. One study demonstrated, in fact, that there was a 24% higher instance of Alzheimer’s in individuals who have diminished hearing.
Though dementia isn’t specifically caused by hearing loss there is certainly a link. The primary theories suggest that your brain must work overtime when you can’t effectively process sounds. That means that tasks like memory and cognition, which require more energy, can’t function efficiently because your brain has to spend so much of that energy on more simple tasks.
Hearing loss can also have a severe impact on your mental health. Studies have shown that hearing loss is connected to anxiety, depression, and might even affect schizophrenia. Remaining socially engaged, as mentioned, is the best way to protect your mental health and preserve your cognitive ability. In many examples, hearing loss causes people to feel self-conscious around others, which means they’ll turn to isolation instead. The lack of human interaction can produce the other mental health problems mentioned above and eventually lead to cognitive impairments.
How a Hearing Aid Can Help You Keep Your Resolution
One of the best resources we have to combat dementia and other cognitive 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 deal with hearing loss actually wear a hearing aid. People might steer clear of hearing aids because they’ve had a bad experience in the past or maybe they hold some kind of stigma, but in fact, hearing aids have been shown to help people maintain their cognitive function by helping them hear better.
There are circumstances where particular sounds will need to be relearned because they’ve been forgotten after extended hearing damage. It’s important to help your brain get 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.
If you want to find out what options are available to help you begin hearing better get in touch with us.