Want to suck all the fun out of your next family get-together? Start talking about dementia.
Dementia is not a subject most people are intentionally seeking to discuss, mainly because it’s pretty scary. Dementia, which is a degenerative cognitive disease, causes you to lose touch with reality, experience memory loss, and causes a general loss of mental function. No one wants to go through that.
So stopping or at least delaying dementia is important for many individuals. It turns out, untreated hearing loss and dementia have some pretty clear connections and correlations.
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 increased with hearing loss?
When you neglect hearing loss, what are the consequences?
You realize that you’re starting to lose your hearing, but it’s not at the top of your list of concerns. You can just turn up the volume, right? Maybe, when you watch your favorite show, you’ll just turn on the captions.
On the other hand, perhaps you haven’t noticed your hearing loss yet. Perhaps the signs are still easy to ignore. In either case, hearing loss and mental decline have a solid correlation. That’s because of the effects of neglected hearing loss.
- Conversation becomes harder to understand. You could start to keep yourself secluded from others because of this. You can draw away from family, friends, and loved ones. You speak to others less. This type of social separation is, well, bad for your brain. 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 start to work a lot harder. When you have neglected hearing loss, your ears don’t get nearly as much audio information (this is sort of obvious, yes, but stick with us). Because of this, your brain tries to fill in the gaps. This will really exhaust your brain. The present concept is, when this happens, your brain pulls power from your thought and memory centers. It’s thought that this could quicken the onset of dementia. Mental fatigue and exhaustion, as well as other possible symptoms, can be the result of your brain needing to work so hard.
So your hearing impairment is not quite as innocuous as you might have thought.
Hearing loss is one of the leading signs of dementia
Let’s say you only have slight hearing loss. Like, you’re unable to hear whispers, but everything else is just fine. Well, even with that, your chance of developing dementia is doubled.
So one of the initial indications of dementia can be even mild hearing loss.
So… How should we understand this?
Well, it’s important not to forget that we’re talking about risk here. Hearing loss isn’t an early symptom of dementia and there isn’t any guarantee it will result in dementia. It does mean that later in life you will have a greater chance of developing cognitive decline. But there could be an upside.
Your risk of cognitive decline is reduced by successfully managing your hearing loss. So how do you manage your hearing loss? Here are a few ways:
- If your hearing loss is caught early, there are some measures you can take to safeguard your hearing. You could, for instance, wear ear protection if you work in a noisy setting and steer clear of noisy events like concerts or sporting events.
- Come in and see us so we can help you determine any hearing loss you might have.
- The impact of hearing loss can be reduced by using hearing aids. So, can dementia be avoided by wearing hearing aids? That’s not an easy question to answer, but we recognize that brain function can be improved by wearing hearing aids. This is the reason why: You’ll be capable of participating in more conversations, your brain won’t need to work as hard, and you’ll be a bit more socially connected. Research suggests that managing hearing loss can help decrease your danger of developing dementia in the future. That isn’t the same as preventing dementia, but it’s a good thing regardless.
Lowering your risk of dementia – other methods
Of course, there are other things you can do to decrease your risk of cognitive decline, too. Here are some examples:
- A diet that helps you maintain a healthy blood pressure and is generally healthy can go a long way. For individuals who naturally have higher blood pressure, it could be necessary to take medication to lower it.
- Stop smoking. Seriously. It just makes everything bad, including your risk of developing cognitive decline (this list also includes drinking too much alcohol).
- Exercise is needed for good overall health and that includes hearing health.
- Getting enough sleep at night is imperative. Some studies link fewer than four hours of sleep per night to a higher risk of dementia.
Of course, scientists are still researching the link between dementia, hearing loss, lifestyle, and more. There are a multitude of causes that make this disease so complicated. But the lower your risk, the better.
Hearing is its own benefit
So, over time, hearing better will reduce your general risk of dementia. But it isn’t just your future golden years you’ll be improving, it’s right now. Imagine, no more missed discussions, no more garbled misunderstandings, no more silent and lonely visits to the grocery store.
It’s no fun losing out on life’s important moments. And taking steps to manage your hearing loss, maybe by using hearing aids, can be really helpful.
So make sure to schedule an appointment with us today!
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References
https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2021/hearing-loss-and-the-dementia-connection