As your body ages, it isn’t difficult to notice the changes. Your skin begins to develop some wrinkles. Your hair turns gray (or falls out). Your knees begin to be a little more sore. Your skin becomes a bit saggy in places. Perhaps you begin to detect some fading of your hearing and eyesight. It’s pretty hard not to see these changes.
But it’s harder to see how aging affects your mind. You may find that you are needing to put important events on the calendar because you’re having issues with your memory. Perhaps you find yourself spacing out more and missing significant events. But sadly, you might not even detect this slow onset. For those who have hearing loss, the psychological effects can often worsen this decline.
Luckily, there are some ways that you can work out your brain to keep it clear and healthy as you age. And you might even have some fun!
The connection between hearing and cognition
There are numerous reasons why individuals will slowly lose their hearing as they get older. This can lead to a higher risk of cognitive decline. So what is the link between cognitive decline and hearing loss? There are several silent risk factors according to research.
- There can be atrophy of the portion of the brain that processes sound when somebody has neglected hearing loss. The brain may reallocate some resources, but in general, this isn’t very good for mental health.
- Untreated hearing loss can easily produce a sense of social isolation. Because of this lack of social connection, you can begin to detect cognitive lapses as you disengage from the outside world.
- Neglected hearing loss can also trigger depression and other mental health concerns. And an associated chance of cognitive decline can be increased by these mental challenges.
So, can hearing loss turn into dementia? Well, not directly. But mental decline, including dementia, will be more likely for a person who has untreated hearing loss. Those risks, however, can be greatly reduced by getting hearing loss treated. And, improving your overall brain health (known medically as “cognition”) can decrease those risks even more. A little preventative management can go a long way.
How to enhance cognitive function
So how do you go about giving your brain the workout it requires to improve cognitive function? Well, as with any other part of your body, the amount and kind of exercise you do go a long way. So increase your brain’s sharpness by engaging in some of these fun activities.
Gardening
Growing your own vegetables and fruits can be exceptionally enjoyable all on its own (it’s also a delicious hobby). Your cognition can be improved with this unique combination of hard work and deep thinking. Here are a few reasons why:
- Gardening releases serotonin which can ease the symptoms of anxiety and depression.
- As you’re working, you will have to think about what you’re doing. You have to assess the situation using planning and problem solving skills.
- Gardening requires moderate physical activity. Whether it’s digging around in the dirt or moving bags of soil around, the activity you get when gardening is enough to get your blood pumping, and that’s good for your brain.
As an added bonus, you get healthy vegetables and fruits from your hobby. Of course, you can grow lots of other things besides food (herbs, flowers cacti).
Arts and crafts
Arts and crafts can be enjoyed by anybody no matter the artistic ability. You can make a simple sculpture using popsicle sticks. Or perhaps you can make a really cool clay mug on a pottery wheel. It’s the process that is important with regard to exercising the brain, not so much the particular medium. That’s because arts and crafts (painting, sculpting, building) cultivate your imagination, your critical thinking skills, and your sense of aesthetics.
Arts and crafts can be good for your cognitive ability because:
- It requires making use of fine motor skills. And while that might feel automatic, your brain and nervous system are truly doing lots of work. Over the long run, your mental function will be healthier.
- You need to process sensory input in real time and you will need to engage your imagination to do that. A lot of brain power is required to achieve that. You can activate your imagination by participating in these unique brain exercises.
- You have to stay focused on what you’re doing while you do it. You can help your mental process remain clear and flexible by engaging in this kind of real time thinking.
Your level of talent doesn’t really matter, whether you’re painting a work of art or working on a paint-by-numbers. The most important thing is keeping your brain sharp by stimulating your imagination.
Swimming
Going for a swim can help you stay healthy in a lot of ways! Plus, it’s always fun to jump into the pool (especially when it’s so sweltering hot outside). But swimming isn’t just good for your physical health, it also has cognitive health benefits.
Any time you’re in the pool, you have to do a lot of thinking about spatial relations when you’re swimming. After all, you don’t want to smash into anybody else in the pool!
You also have to pay attention to your rhythms. When will you need to come up for a breath of air when you’re under water? Things like that. This is still an effective cognitive exercise even if it’s occurring in the back of your mind. And mental decline will advance more slowly when you participate in physical activity because it helps get more blood to the brain.
Meditation
Just a little time for you and your mind. Meditation can help settle your thoughts (and calm your sympathetic nervous system at the same time). These “mindfulness” meditation methods are designed to help you focus on your thinking. Meditation can help:
- Improve your memory
- Help you learn better
- Improve your attention span
You can become even more conscious of your mental faculties by practicing meditation.
Reading
Reading is good for you! And even better than that, it’s really enjoyable. There’s that old saying: a book can take anywhere. In a book, you can go everywhere, like outer space, the ancient world, or the bottom of the ocean. When you’re following along with a story, manifesting landscapes in your imagination, and mentally conjuring up characters, you’re using a lot of brain power. In this way, reading engages a massive part of your brain. You’re forced to think quite a bit and utilize your imagination when you read.
Consequently, reading is one of the most ideal ways to sharpen your thoughts. Imagination is required to picture what’s going on, your memory to keep up with the plot, and when you complete the book, you get a rewarding dose of serotonin.
What you read doesn’t really make a difference, fiction, non-fiction, science fiction, as long as you spend some time each day reading and strengthening your brainpower! And, for the record, audiobooks are basically as good as reading with your eyes.
Improve your cognition by having your hearing loss addressed
Neglected hearing loss can raise your risk of cognitive decline, even if you do everything correctly. But if you don’t have your hearing loss treated, even if you do all of these things, it will still be a difficult fight.
Your social skills, your thinking, and your memory and cognition will get better once you have your hearing loss addressed (normally with hearing aids).
Are you dealing with hearing loss? Reconnect your life by calling us today for a hearing assessment.