Let’s be clear: there are a number of ways that you can preserve your mental acuity and stave off disorders like dementia, cognitive decline, and Alzheimer’s disease. Remaining socially active is one of the most essential while participating in the workforce appears to be another. No matter the method, though, managing hearing loss through hearing aids makes these activities a lot easier and contributes in its own way to combating cognitive issues.
These conditions, according to numerous studies, are frequently directly connected to hearing loss. This article will lay out the relationship between cognitive decline and hearing loss and how wearing hearing aids can decrease the probability of these conditions becoming an imminent issue.
The Link Between Hearing Loss And Cognitive Decline
Scientists at Johns Hopkins have conducted numerous studies over the years to examine the link between cognitive decline and hearing loss. The results of each study told the same story: individuals with hearing loss suffered from dementia and cognitive decline in higher rates than those without. In fact, one study revealed that people with hearing loss were 24% more likely to develop Alzheimer’s than those with healthy hearing.
Hearing loss alone does not cause dementia, but there is a link between the two conditions. When you can’t effectively process sound your brain has to work overtime according to leading theories. That means that tasks such as memory and cognition, which require more energy, can’t function at full capacity because your brain has to spend so much of that energy on more basic tasks.
Hearing loss can also have a significant impact on your mental health. Anxiety, social isolation, and depression have all been linked to hearing loss and there could even be a connection with schizophrenia. Staying socially engaged, as noted, is the best way to protect your mental health and preserve your cognitive clarity. Often, individuals who have hearing loss will turn to self isolation because they feel self conscious around other people. The mental problems mentioned above are typically the outcome of the lack of human contact and can inevitably lead to serious cognitive decline.
Keeping Your Mental Faculties Sharp With Hearing Aids
Hearing aids are perhaps one of the best tools we have to maintain mental sharpness and fight conditions like dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. The problem is that only one out of seven of the millions of people over the age of 50 who suffer from hearing loss actually wear a hearing aid. People may avoid hearing aids because they’ve had a negative experience in the past or maybe they hold some kind of stigma, but the fact is that they are proven to help people hear better and preserve their cognitive functions for longer periods of time.
There are situations where certain sounds will have to be relearned because they’ve been forgotten after prolonged hearing damage. A hearing aid can either stop that scenario from happening in the first place or help you relearn those sounds, which will enable your brain to focus on other, more important tasks.
Contact us today to discover what options are available to help you begin hearing better in this decade and beyond.