If you start talking about dementia at your next family gathering, you will probably put a dark cloud over the entire event.
Dementia is not a topic most individuals are actively looking to discuss, mainly because it’s rather scary. A degenerative cognitive disease in which you slowly (or, more frighteningly, quickly) lose your cognitive faculties, dementia causes you to lose touch with reality, experience mood swings, and have memory problems. It’s not something anybody looks forward to.
So stopping or at least delaying dementia is a priority for many individuals. It turns out, neglected hearing loss and dementia have some pretty clear connections and correlations.
That may seem a bit… surprising to you. What does your brain have to do with your ears after all? Why does hearing loss increase chances of dementia?
What occurs when your hearing impairment goes untreated?
You recognize that you’re starting to lose your hearing, but it’s not at the top of your list of concerns. You can just turn up the volume, right? Maybe, when you watch your favorite program, you’ll just put on the captions.
On the other hand, perhaps you haven’t noticed your hearing loss yet. Perhaps the signs are still easy to ignore. Cognitive decline and hearing loss are strongly connected either way. That’s because of the effects of untreated hearing loss.
- It becomes harder to understand conversations. As a result, you may begin isolating yourself socially. You may become distant from loved ones and friends. You won’t talk with others as much. It’s not good for your brain to separate yourself like this. Not to mention your social life. What’s more, many people who cope with hearing loss-related social isolation don’t even realize it’s happening, and they most likely won’t attribute their isolation to their hearing.
- Your brain will be working overtime. When you have neglected hearing loss, your ears don’t pick up nearly as much audio information (this is kind of obvious, yes, but stay with us). This will leave your brain filling in the missing info. This will really tire your brain out. The current theory is, when this occurs, your brain pulls power from your thinking and memory centers. It’s believed that this might quicken the onset of cognitive decline. Mental stress and exhaustion, as well as other possible symptoms, can be the result of your brain needing to work so hard.
So your hearing impairment isn’t quite as harmless as you may have thought.
Hearing loss is one of the leading signs of dementia
Maybe your hearing loss is mild. Like, you can’t hear whispers, but everything else sounds normal. Well, turns out you’re still two times as likely to develop dementia as somebody who doesn’t have hearing loss.
So one of the initial signs of dementia can be even minor hearing loss.
So… How should we understand this?
We’re looking at risk in this situation which is relevant to note. Hearing loss isn’t an early symptom of dementia and there isn’t any guarantee it will lead to dementia. Rather, it just means you have a greater chance of developing dementia or experiencing cognitive decline later in life. But there might be an upside.
Your risk of cognitive decline is decreased by effectively dealing with your hearing loss. So how can you deal with your hearing loss? Here are a few ways:
- Come see us so we can help you identify any hearing loss you may have.
- If your hearing loss is caught early, there are some measures you can take to safeguard your hearing. As an example, you could steer clear of noisy events (such as concerts or sports games) or wear hearing protection when you’re around anything loud (for example, if you work with heavy machinery).
- The affect of hearing loss can be minimized by wearing hearing aids. So, can dementia be avoided by using hearing aids? That isn’t an easy question to answer, but we know that brain function can be enhanced by wearing hearing aids. This is why: You’ll be capable of participating in more discussions, your brain won’t need to work so hard, and you’ll be a little more socially connected. Research implies that managing hearing loss can help minimize your risk of developing dementia in the future. It won’t prevent dementia but we can still call it a win.
Lowering your risk of dementia – other methods
Of course, there are other things you can do to decrease your risk of dementia, too. This might include:
- Exercise is necessary for good general health including hearing health.
- Quit smoking. Seriously. It just makes everything bad, including your chance of experiencing dementia (excessive alcohol use is also on this list).
- Eating more healthy food, especially one that helps you keep your blood pressure from getting too high. For individuals who naturally have higher blood pressure, it may be necessary to use medication to lower it.
- Make sure you get plenty of sleep every night. There are studies that link less than four hours of sleep every night to a higher risk of dementia.
Of course, scientists are still researching the connection between dementia, hearing impairment, lifestyle, and more. There are so many causes that make this disease so complex. But the lower your risk, the better.
Hearing is its own benefit
So, hearing better will help decrease your general danger of developing cognitive decline down the line. But it isn’t just your future golden years you’ll be improving, it’s now. Imagine, no more solitary visits to the store, no more confused conversations, no more misunderstandings.
Losing out on the important things in life stinks. And taking steps to manage your hearing loss, possibly by using hearing aids, can be a big help.
So call us today for an appointment.
References
https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2021/hearing-loss-and-the-dementia-connection
