Want to take all the joy out of your next family gathering? Start to talk about dementia.
Dementia isn’t a topic most individuals are intentionally looking to discuss, mostly because it’s pretty scary. A degenerative mental disease in which you gradually (or, more terrifyingly, quickly) lose your cognitive faculties, dementia forces you to lose touch with reality, experience mood swings, and have memory loss. No one wants to experience that.
For this reason, many individuals are looking for a way to counter, or at least slow, the advancement of dementia. There are some clear connections, as it turns out, between dementia and untreated hearing loss.
That may seem a bit… surprising to you. What could your brain have to do with your ears after all? Why does hearing loss increase chances of dementia?
What takes place when your hearing loss goes untreated?
Maybe you’ve noticed your hearing loss already, but you aren’t too worried about it. You can just crank up the volume, right? Maybe you’ll just turn on the captions when you’re watching your favorite program.
On the other hand, perhaps you haven’t noticed your hearing loss yet. Perhaps the signs are still hard to detect. Mental decline and hearing impairment are strongly connected either way. That’s because of the effects of neglected hearing loss.
- It becomes more difficult to understand conversations. You could begin to keep yourself isolated from others because of this. You may become distant from loved ones and friends. You’ll talk to others less. This type of social separation is, well, not good for your brain. And naturally your social life. Additionally, many individuals who cope with hearing loss-related social isolation don’t even recognize it’s happening, and they likely won’t connect their isolation to their hearing.
- Your brain will begin to work much harder. Your ears will collect less audio information when you’re dealing with untreated hearing loss. This will leave your brain filling in the missing gaps. This is incredibly taxing. The present theory is, when this occurs, your brain draws power from your thought and memory centers. The thinking is that after a while this results in dementia (or, at least, helps it progress). Your brain working so hard can also result in all manner of other symptoms, like mental stress and tiredness.
You might have thought that your hearing loss was more innocuous than it really is.
Hearing loss is one of the leading indicators of dementia
Maybe your hearing loss is mild. Whispers might get lost, but you can hear everything else so…no big deal right? Well, turns out you’re still two times as likely to get dementia as somebody who does not have hearing loss.
Which means that even minor hearing loss is a fairly strong initial indication of a dementia risk.
Now… What does that mean?
We’re looking at risk in this circumstance which is relevant to note. Hearing loss isn’t a guarantee of cognitive decline or even an early symptom of dementia. Rather, it simply means you have a greater risk of developing dementia or experiencing cognitive decline later in life. But there could be an upside.
Your risk of cognitive decline is reduced by successfully managing your hearing loss. So how can hearing loss be managed? Here are a few ways:
- The affect of hearing loss can be decreased by using hearing aids. Now, can hearing aids prevent cognitive decline? That’s hard to say, but hearing aids can boost brain function. Here’s the reason why: You’ll be capable of participating in more discussions, your brain won’t have to work so hard, and you’ll be a bit more socially involved. Your risk of developing dementia in the future is decreased by treating hearing loss, research suggests. It won’t prevent dementia but we can still call it a win.
- You can take a few measures to protect your hearing from further harm if you catch your hearing loss soon enough. You could, for instance, use hearing protection if you work in a noisy setting and avoid noisy events like concerts or sporting events.
- Make an appointment with us to diagnose your current hearing loss.
Lowering your risk of dementia – other strategies
You can reduce your chance of cognitive decline by doing some other things too, of course. Here are some examples:
- A diet that keeps your blood pressure down and is generally healthy can go a long way. Sometimes, medication can help here, some individuals simply have naturally higher blood pressure; those people may need medication sooner rather than later.
- Stop smoking. Seriously. It just makes everything worse, including your risk of experiencing dementia (excess alcohol drinking can also go on this list).
- Make sure you get enough sleep each night. There are studies that link less than four hours of sleep each night to an increase in the risk of dementia.
- Get some exercise.
Needless to say, scientists are still researching the connection between dementia, hearing loss, lifestyle, and more. There are a multitude of causes that make this disease so complex. But any way you can reduce your risk is good.
Being able to hear is its own advantage
So, over time, hearing better will decrease your general risk of cognitive decline. But it’s not just your future golden years you’ll be improving, it’s right now. Imagine, no more missed discussions, no more garbled misunderstandings, no more quiet and lonely visits to the grocery store.
It’s no fun missing out on life’s important moments. And a little bit of hearing loss management, perhaps in the form of a hearing aid, can help significantly.
So make sure to schedule an appointment with us today!
References
https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2021/hearing-loss-and-the-dementia-connection
