It’s easy to notice how your body ages over time. You develop wrinkles. You start to lose your hair or it turns grey. Your joints start to stiffen. Your skin becomes a bit droopy in places. Maybe you start to notice some fading of your hearing and eyesight. It’s pretty hard not to see these changes.
But the impact getting older has on the mind isn’t always so obvious. You may find that you’re having to put significant events on the calendar because you’re having issues with your memory. Perhaps you miss significant events or forget what you were doing more often. But sadly, you might not even notice this gradual onset. For those who have hearing loss, the psychological effects can often exacerbate this decline.
As you age, there are, luckily, some exercises you can do to help your brain remain sharp. And the good news is, these exercises can be utterly enjoyable!
The link between cognition and hearing
Most individuals will gradually lose their hearing as they get older (for a number of reasons). This can contribute to a higher risk of cognitive decline. So, why does loss of hearing increase the chances of mental decline? Research reveals several invisible risks of hearing loss.
- There can be atrophy of the portion of the brain that processes sound when someone has neglected hearing loss. The brain may assign some resources, but in general, this is not very good for mental health.
- A feeling of social separation is often the outcome of neglected hearing loss. As a result of this lack of social interaction, you can start to detect cognitive lapses as you disengage from the outside world.
- Untreated hearing loss can also contribute to depression and other mental health concerns. And the corresponding chance of cognitive decline can be increased by these mental challenges.
So is dementia the result of hearing loss? Well, not directly. But mental decline, including dementia, will be more probable for somebody who has untreated hearing loss. Managing your hearing loss can substantially reduce those risks. And, enhancing your overall brain health (known medically as “cognition”) can minimize those risks even more. A little preventative treatment can go a long way.
Enhancing mental function
So how do you go about giving your brain the workout it needs to strengthen cognitive function? Well, the good news is that your brain is like any other body part: you can always accomplish improvement, it simply calls for a little exercise. So here are some enjoyable ways to develop your brain and increase your sharpness.
Gardening
Growing your own vegetables and fruits is a delicious and rewarding hobby. A unique combination of deep thought and hard work, gardening can also improve your cognitive function. This happens for several reasons:
- Anxiety relief and a little bit of serotonin. This can help keep mental health concerns including depression and anxiety in check.
- You get a bit of moderate physical activity. Increased blood flow is good for your brain and blood flow will be improved by moving buckets around and digging in the ground.
- As you’re working, you will need to think about what you’re doing. You have to assess the situation using planning and problem solving skills.
As an added bonus, you get healthy fruits and vegetables from your hobby. Of course, not all gardens have to be focused on food. You can grow flowers, wild grasses, cacti, or anything your green thumb wishes!
Arts and crafts
You don’t need to be artistically inclined to enjoy arts and crafts. Something like a simple popsicle stick sculpture can be fun. Or maybe you can make a nice clay mug on a pottery wheel. It’s the process that counts with regard to exercising the brain, not as much the particular medium. That’s because arts and crafts (drawing, sculpting, building) cultivate your imagination, your critical thinking skills, and your sense of aesthetics.
Arts and crafts can be good for your cognition because:
- It requires making use of fine motor skills. Even if it feels like it’s happening automatically, a lot of work is being done by your nervous system and brain. That kind of exercise can keep your mental functions healthier over the long haul.
- You need to process sensory input in real time and you will have to engage your imagination to do that. A lot of brain power is needed to accomplish that. There are a few activities that activate your imagination in exactly this way, so it offers a unique type of brain exercise.
- You will need to keep your attention engaged in the exercise you’re doing. You can help your mental process remain clear and flexible by participating in this kind of real time thinking.
Whether you pick up a paint-by-numbers kit or draft your own original work of art, your level of talent doesn’t really matter. The most important thing is keeping your brain sharp by stimulating your imagination.
Swimming
There are a number of ways that swimming can keep you healthy. Plus, a hot afternoon in the pool is always a great time. But swimming isn’t only good for your physical health, it also has cognitive health benefits.
Whenever you’re in the pool, you need to do a lot of thinking about spatial relations when you’re swimming. After all, you don’t want to collide with anyone else in the pool!
You also have to think about your rhythms. When will you need to come up to breathe when you’re under water? That kind of thing. Even if this type of thinking is happening in the background of your brain, it’s still excellent cognitive exercise. Plus, physical exercise of any sort can really help get blood to the brain going, and that can be good at helping to slow down cognitive decline.
Meditation
Spending a little quiet solo time with your mind. As your thoughts calm down, your sympathetic nervous system also calms down. These “mindfulness” meditation techniques are made to help you concentrate on your thinking. As a result, meditation can:
- Help you learn better
- Improve your memory
- Improve your attention span
You can become even more aware of your mental faculties by getting involved in meditation.
Reading
It’s good for you to read! And it’s also quite enjoyable. A book can take you anywhere according to that old saying. In a book, you can go anywhere, like outer space, ancient Egypt, or the depths of the ocean. Consider all the brain power that is involved in generating these imaginary landscapes, keeping up with a story, or conjuring characters. This is how reading engages a huge part of your brain. Reading isn’t feasible without engaging your imagination and thinking a great deal.
Consequently, one of the very best ways to improve the mind is reading. You have to utilize your memory to keep track of the story, your imagination to picture what’s going on, and you get a pleasant dose of serotonin when you finish your book!
What you read doesn’t really matter, fiction, non-fiction, science fiction, as long as you spend some time every day reading and strengthening your brainpower! Audiobooks, for the record, work just as well!
Manage your hearing loss to minimize cognitive risks
Neglected hearing loss can raise your danger of cognitive decline, even if you do everything right. Which means, even if you swim and read and garden, you’ll still be fighting an uphill battle, unless you manage your hearing loss.
When are able to have your hearing treated (usually thanks to a hearing aid or two), all of these fun brain exercises will help increase your cognition. Improving your memory, your thinking, and your social skills.
Are you dealing with hearing loss? Reconnect your life by calling us today for a hearing exam.