If you start talking about dementia at your next family gathering, you will most likely put a dark cloud above the entire event.
Dementia isn’t a topic most individuals are intentionally looking to discuss, mainly because it’s rather scary. Dementia, which is a degenerative cognitive condition, makes you lose touch with reality, experience memory loss, and causes an over-all loss of mental function. It’s not something anybody looks forward to.
So stopping or at least delaying dementia is important for many individuals. There are some clear connections, as it turns out, between dementia and untreated hearing loss.
That may seem a bit… surprising to you. After all, what does your brain have to do with your ears (a lot, actually)? Why are the dangers of dementia multiplied with hearing loss?
What takes place when your hearing impairment is neglected?
Perhaps you’ve noticed your hearing loss already, but you’re not that concerned about it. It’s nothing that turning up the volume on your tv won’t fix, right? Maybe you’ll simply turn on the captions when you’re watching your favorite show.
Or maybe your hearing loss has gone unnoticed so far. Perhaps the signs are still easy to ignore. In either case, hearing loss and cognitive decline have a solid connection. That’s because of the effects of untreated hearing loss.
- It becomes more difficult to understand conversations. You could start to keep yourself isolated from others because of this. You can draw away from family, friends, and loved ones. You speak to others less. It’s not good for your brain to separate yourself like this. Not to mention your social life. Further, most individuals who have this kind of isolation won’t even recognize that hearing loss is the cause.
- Your brain will be working harder. When you have neglected hearing loss, your ears don’t pick up nearly as much audio information (this is kind of obvious, yes, but stay with us). As a result, your brain will attempt to fill in the gaps. This is incredibly taxing. The current theory is, when this happens, 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 along). Your brain working so hard can also cause all manner of other symptoms, like mental fatigue and exhaustion.
So your hearing impairment isn’t quite as harmless as you might have believed.
One of the major signs of dementia is hearing loss
Maybe your hearing loss is slight. Whispers might get lost, but you’re able to hear everything else so…no problem right? Well, even with that, your risk of developing dementia is doubled.
Meaning that even mild hearing loss is a pretty good preliminary indication of a dementia risk.
Now… What does that suggest?
We’re looking at risk in this situation which is relevant to note. Hearing loss isn’t an early symptom of dementia and there isn’t any guarantee it will result in dementia. Instead, it just means you have a greater risk of developing dementia or going through cognitive decline later in life. But there could be an upside.
Your risk of dementia is reduced by successfully managing your hearing loss. So how can you deal with your hearing loss? Here are several ways:
- If your hearing loss is detected early, there are certain measures you can take to safeguard your hearing. For example, you could stay away from 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).
- Come see us so we can help you determine any hearing loss you may have.
- Using a hearing aid can help reduce the impact of hearing loss. Now, can hearing aids prevent dementia? That’s hard to say, but hearing aids can enhance brain function. This is why: You’ll be more socially involved and your brain won’t have to work so hard to carry on conversations. Research indicates that treating hearing loss can help decrease your danger of developing dementia in the future. It won’t prevent dementia but we can still call it a win.
Lowering your chance of dementia – other strategies
Naturally, there are other things you can do to lower your risk of cognitive decline, too. This might include:
- A diet that helps you maintain a healthy blood pressure and is generally healthy can go a long way. For people who naturally have higher blood pressure, it could be necessary to use medication to lower it.
- Stop smoking. Seriously. It just makes everything worse, and that includes your chance of developing dementia (this list also includes drinking too much alcohol).
- Getting enough sleep at night is imperative. Some research links a higher risk of dementia to getting less than four hours of sleep each night.
- Get some exercise.
Of course, scientists are still studying the link between dementia, hearing loss, lifestyle, and more. There are so many causes that make this disease so complicated. But the lower your risk, the better.
Being able to hear is its own advantage
So, hearing better will help decrease your general danger of developing cognitive decline down the line. But it’s not only your future golden years you’ll be improving, it’s today. Imagine, no more missed conversations, no more muffled misunderstandings, no more quiet and lonely trips to the grocery store.
It’s no fun losing out on life’s important moments. And a little bit of hearing loss management, possibly in the form of a hearing aid, can help significantly.
So call us today for an appointment.
References
https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2021/hearing-loss-and-the-dementia-connection