Make no mistake: there are a few ways that you can maintain your mental acuity and fend off conditions like dementia, cognitive decline, and Alzheimer’s disease. Remaining social is one of the most essential while participating in the workforce seems to be another. Regardless of the method, though, managing hearing loss through hearing aids makes these activities a lot easier and contributes in its own way to preventing cognitive problems.
Numerous studies show that the disorders listed above are all linked to untreated hearing loss. What follows is a look at why hearing loss can cause extreme problems with your mental health and how solutions like hearing aids can help you keep your brain working at a higher level for a longer period of time.
The Relationship Between Hearing Loss And Cognitive Decline
The link between hearing loss and cognitive decline has been analyzed numerous times over the years by scientists at Johns Hopkins. The same story was told by each study: people with hearing loss struggled with dementia and cognitive decline in higher rates than those without. One study showed, in fact, that there was a 24% higher instance of Alzheimer’s in people who have diminished hearing.
Though dementia isn’t directly caused by hearing loss there is definitely a link. When you can’t effectively process sound your brain has to work harder according to leading theories. That means that activities like cognition and memory, which require more energy, can’t function at full capacity because your brain has to use so much of that energy on more basic tasks.
Hearing loss can also have a serious impact on your mental health. Studies have shown that hearing loss is connected to anxiety, depression, and may even affect schizophrenia. Staying socially engaged, as mentioned, is the best way to safeguard your mental health and preserve your cognitive clarity. Frequently, individuals who have hearing loss will turn to self isolation because they feel self conscious in public. The mental issues listed above are frequently the outcome of the lack of human interaction and can inevitably lead to significant cognitive decline.
How a Hearing Aid Can Help You Safeguard Your Mental Faculties
One of the best resources we have to fight dementia and other cognition conditions such as Alzheimer’s is hearing aids. Unfortunately, most people who need hearing aids don’t wear them. People may stay away from hearing aids because they’ve had a negative experience in the past or perhaps they have 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 circumstances where particular sounds will have to be relearned because they’ve been forgotten after extended hearing damage. A hearing aid can either prevent that scenario from occurring in the first place or help you relearn those sounds, which will enable your brain to focus on other, more important tasks.
If you want to learn what options are available to help you start hearing better give us a call.