If you begin talking about dementia at your next family get-together, you will most likely put a dark cloud over the whole event.
The topic of dementia can be very frightening and most people aren’t going to go out of their way to discuss it. Dementia, which is a degenerative cognitive disease, makes you lose touch with reality, experience loss of memory, and brings about an over-all loss of mental function. Nobody wants to go through that.
So stopping or at least slowing dementia is important for many individuals. It turns out, untreated hearing loss and dementia have several fairly 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 raise the risk of dementia?
What happens when your hearing impairment goes untreated?
You realize that you’re beginning to lose your hearing, but it isn’t at the top of your list of concerns. It’s nothing that turning up the volume on your television won’t solve, right? Maybe, when you watch your favorite show, you’ll just put on the captions.
But then again, perhaps you haven’t detected your hearing loss yet. Perhaps the signs are still subtle. In either case, hearing loss and mental decline have a solid connection. That might have something to do with what occurs when you have untreated hearing loss.
- Conversation becomes harder to understand. As a result, you may begin isolating yourself socially. You can draw away from family, friends, and loved ones. You won’t talk with people as much. It’s not good for your brain to separate yourself this way. It’s not good for your social life either. Further, most people who have this sort of isolation won’t even know that hearing loss is the cause.
- Your brain will begin to work much harder. When you have neglected hearing loss, your ears don’t pick up nearly as much audio information (this is sort of obvious, yes, but stick with us). This will leave your brain filling in the missing gaps. This is incredibly taxing. The current concept is, when this occurs, your brain pulls power from your thought and memory centers. The idea is that after a while this results in dementia (or, at least, helps it progress). Your brain working so hard can also result in all kinds of other symptoms, like mental stress and tiredness.
You might have suspected that your hearing loss was more harmless than it really is.
Hearing loss is one of the primary indicators of dementia
Let’s say you have only mild hearing loss. Like, you’re unable to hear whispers, but everything else is just fine. Well, even with that, your risk of developing dementia is doubled.
Which means that even minor hearing loss is a fairly strong initial indication of a dementia risk.
So… How should we understand this?
We’re considering risk in this situation which is important to note. Hearing loss isn’t an early symptom of dementia and there’s no guarantee it will lead to dementia. Instead, it just means you have a higher risk of developing dementia or experiencing cognitive decline later in life. But that can actually be good news.
Your risk of cognitive decline is lowered by successfully managing your hearing loss. So how can hearing loss be managed? There are a number of ways:
- The affect of hearing loss can be decreased by wearing hearing aids. Now, can hearing aids stop cognitive decline? That’s tough to say, but hearing aids can enhance brain function. Here’s why: You’ll be more socially involved and your brain won’t have to work so hard to carry on discussions. Research suggests that managing hearing loss can help minimize your danger of developing dementia when you get older. It won’t prevent dementia but we can still call it a win.
- Come in and see us so we can help you determine any hearing loss you might have.
- If your hearing loss is detected early, there are certain steps you can take to protect your hearing. For example, you could stay away from noisy events (such as concerts or sports games) or wear hearing protection when you’re near anything noisy (for example, if you work with heavy machinery).
Other ways to reduce your dementia risk
Naturally, there are other things you can do to decrease your chance of cognitive decline, too. Here are some examples:
- Getting enough sleep at night is essential. Some studies have linked an increased risk of dementia to getting less than four hours of sleep per night.
- Eating a healthy diet, specifically one that helps you keep your blood pressure from going too high. For individuals who naturally have higher blood pressure, it could be necessary to take medication to lower it.
- Exercise is needed for good general health and that includes hearing health.
- Stop smoking. Seriously. It just makes everything worse, and that includes your risk of developing cognitive decline (this list also includes excessive alcohol use).
The connection between lifestyle, hearing loss, and dementia is still being examined by scientists. There are a multitude of causes that make this disease so complex. But any way you can decrease your risk is good.
Being able to hear is its own advantage
So, hearing better will help decrease your general danger of developing dementia in the future. You’ll be improving your life now, not just in the future. Imagine, no more solitary visits to the store, no more lost conversations, no more misunderstandings.
It’s no fun losing out on life’s important moments. And a small amount of hearing loss management, maybe in the form of a hearing aid, can help considerably.
So make sure to schedule an appointment with us today!
References
https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2021/hearing-loss-and-the-dementia-connection
