Want to suck all the joy out of your next family gathering? Start talking about dementia.
Dementia isn’t a subject most individuals are actively looking to talk about, mainly because it’s rather scary. Dementia, which is a degenerative cognitive condition, makes you lose touch with reality, experience memory loss, and brings about an over-all loss of mental function. It isn’t something anybody looks forward to.
So preventing or at least delaying dementia is important for many people. There are several clear connections, as it turns out, between dementia and untreated hearing loss.
That might seem a bit… surprising to you. After all, what does your brain have to do with your ears (lots, it turns out)? Why are the risks of dementia multiplied with hearing loss?
When you neglect hearing loss, what are the repercussions?
Perhaps you’ve noticed your hearing loss already, but you’re not that concerned about it. It’s nothing that cranking up the volume on your television won’t fix, right? Maybe you’ll just put on the captions when you’re watching your favorite program.
Or maybe your hearing loss has gone unnoticed so far. Maybe the signs are still easy to disregard. Either way, hearing loss and mental decline have a strong connection. That’s because of the effects of untreated hearing loss.
- Conversation becomes more difficult to understand. As a result, you may start to isolate yourself socially. You may become removed from loved ones and friends. You won’t talk with people as much. It’s bad for your brain to isolate yourself this way. And naturally your social life. Additionally, many individuals who cope with hearing loss-related social isolation don’t even recognize it’s happening, and they likely won’t connect their solitude to their hearing.
- Your brain will be working harder. Your ears will get less audio information when you’re dealing with untreated hearing loss. This will leave your brain filling in the missing gaps. This is unbelievably taxing. The current concept is, when this occurs, your brain pulls power from your thought and memory centers. It’s thought that this might hasten the onset of dementia. Mental fatigue and exhaustion, along with other possible symptoms, can be the result of your brain needing to work so hard.
You might have suspected that your hearing loss was more innocuous than it really is.
Hearing loss is one of the primary signs of dementia
Maybe your hearing loss is mild. Like, you’re unable to 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.
Meaning that even mild hearing loss is a pretty strong initial indication of a risk of dementia.
So… How should we understand this?
Well, it’s important not to forget that we’re dealing with risk here. Hearing loss is not a guarantee of cognitive decline or even an early symptom of dementia. It does mean that later in life you will have an increased chance of developing cognitive decline. But there might be an upside.
Your risk of dementia is lowered by effectively dealing with your hearing loss. So how can you manage your hearing loss? There are several ways:
- Set up an appointment with us to identify your existing hearing loss.
- If your hearing loss is caught early, there are some steps you can take to safeguard your hearing. As an example, you could steer clear of noisy events (like concerts or sports games) or use hearing protection when you’re near anything noisy (for example, if you work with heavy machinery).
- Using a hearing aid can help decrease the affect of hearing loss. So, can cognitive decline be stopped by using hearing aids? That’s hard to say, but hearing aids can boost brain function. Here’s why: You’ll be capable of participating in more conversations, your brain won’t need to work so hard, and you’ll be a little more socially involved. Research suggests that managing hearing loss can help reduce your risk of developing dementia when you get older. That isn’t the same as stopping dementia, but it’s a good thing regardless.
Lowering your risk of dementia – other strategies
You can decrease your risk of dementia by doing some other things as well, of course. Here are a few examples:
- A diet that keeps your blood pressure down and is generally healthy can go a long way. For individuals who naturally have higher blood pressure, it could be necessary to take medication to lower it.
- Exercise is needed for good overall health and that includes hearing health.
- Don’t smoke. Seriously. It just makes everything bad, including your chance of developing cognitive decline (this list also includes excessive alcohol use).
- Be sure you get enough sleep each night. There are studies that link fewer than four hours of sleep each night to an increase in the risk of dementia.
The connection between lifestyle, hearing loss, and dementia is still being researched by scientists. It’s a complex disease with an array of causes. But any way you can decrease your risk is good.
Hearing is its own benefit
So, over time, hearing better will decrease your overall risk of dementia. You’ll be bettering your life now, not only in the future. Imagine, no more solitary trips to the store, no more lost conversations, no more misunderstandings.
Missing out on the important things in life stinks. And taking steps to control your hearing loss, maybe 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