You can wind up in the hospital if you don’t properly manage your hearing loss symptoms. I know that sounds like an exaggeration. We usually consider hearing loss as little more than an inconvenience – something that makes the news a bit harder to hear or, at worst, makes you unknowingly agree to something you didn’t mean.
But the long-term health impacts of untreated hearing loss is beginning to get serious attention from researchers.
How is Your Health Related to Hearing Loss?
Hearing loss doesn’t, at first glance, seem as if it has much of a connection to other health concerns. But research conducted by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health indicates that untreated hearing loss can result in a 50% increase in hospital visits over time. The longer the hearing loss remains untreated, the more significant the health havoc get.
That seems like a strange discovery: what does hearing have to do with your general health? The answer is challenging.
Hearing Health And Mental Health
Here are a number of the health concerns linked to hearing loss:
- You start to lose your memory. As a matter of fact, your odds of developing dementia double with untreated hearing loss.
- Loss of balance. Hearing loss can make it more difficult to keep your balance and maintain situational awareness.
- Higher instance of anxiety and depression. Basically, the chance of anxiety and depression rises with hearing loss and that will bring about health issues both physical and mental.
Hearing Aids Really Help
There’s some good news though. The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School research reveals that up to 75% of the cognitive decline connected to hearing loss can be halted by one simple solution: using a hearing aid.
Wearing a hearing aid has a powerful impact on eliminating the dangers connected to untreated hearing loss. The following improvements were revealed in individuals who wore hearing aids for as little as two weeks:
- Brain function improvements.
- Balance and awareness improvements.
- Traumatic brain injury reductions.
The researchers from Johns Hopkins looked at data from 77,000 patients collected over about twenty years. And an essential part of preserving your health lies in protecting your hearing which is a surprising conclusion. Taking care of your hearing health also benefits your financial well-being, because being sick can be expensive.
Preserving Your Hearing And Your Health
Hearing loss is a perfectly normal part of getting older, although it’s not exclusive to aging. Hearing loss can happen at any age because of accidents, occupational hazards, or diseases.
However or whenever you lose your hearing, it’s really important to have it checked. Your health could depend on it.