How Hearing Loss Treatment Can Lessen Loneliness

Everyone becomes lonely from time to time, but in best case scenarios we are able to make changes in our life to connect to others. Connecting to family and friends helps us to feel engaged and excited about our days, improving our mood and inspiring us to pursue hobbies, activities and new relationships. When people remain lonely for too long studies have found that it can actually begin to impact many aspects of our health and our life expectancy. 

Loneliness and Hearing Loss

As we age the importance of a healthy social life becomes even more important. When we can engage with people in our daily life, it not only gives us a sense of belonging but can decrease stress and depression while lowering heart rate, blood pressure, and risk of diabetes. Our entire health is connected, and this of course includes our emotional and mental health as well as the health of our physical body. One in 3 people over 65 deal with irreversible hearing loss and this number jumps to half of all people over as they reach 75. When people struggle with hearing loss it is difficult to keep up with conversations between friends, family and co-workers. People are likely to feel left out and strained from the people in their life, increasing the likeliness of loneliness. 

Causes of Loneliness

There are many factors which can increase loneliness including location, the loss of a loved one starting a new job or moving to a new location. When we are younger, we often have the energy to make new connections and build connections and intimacy that is friendship, relationships and community. However, this requires a lot of time and energy we may not have as we age. 

On top of everything else, many of us become less mobile as we age, making it more exhausting or difficult to navigate new situations. Hearing loss further impacts this by making it hard to follow conversations and respond in a timely manner. It takes more effort from your brain to interpret what is being said because you have less auditory information. This is known as listening fatigue and can be completely exhausting. It is all too common for people with hearing loss to choose to stay at home and isolate, rather than subjecting themselves to the exhausting task of struggling through social interactions and feeling like it is just not working.

Loneliness, Hearing Loss and Risks to Your Safety

When you are lonely it is not just an emotional issue, but your body will experience physical symptoms. In fact, a 2015 study found that chronic loneliness increased the likeliness of an earlier death by 26%. When you are less social, you are often less likely to try new experiences, travel to new places and remain active, keeping your body in shape. 

Your mobility is affected as hearing loss makes it harder to hear the world around you. This becomes a safety issue as you can miss important warning sounds when navigating the world or at home. It is all too easy to miss the sound of an approaching vehicle, misjudge proximity and speed, as well as other important clues about your environment that helps to keep us safe. 

Hearing loss in a mild level of 25 dB , will increase your risk of falls and accidents and hospitalizations by 3-fold. Every additional 10-decibels of hearing loss increased the chances of accidents by 1.4-fold

Hearing Loss, Loneliness and Risk of Dementia 

Loneliness and hearing loss in addition to affecting mood, self-esteem and physical health, can also impact your cognitive function. When you struggle to hear day after day the cognitive strain takes away brain function from other brain activity. As isolation and loneliness continue over years your brain will become less and less stimulated. Over time, much like an under stimulated muscle, it is common for the brain to actually shrink also known as brain atrophy. Studies find that individuals with moderate to severe hearing loss are up to 5 times as likely to develop dementia. 

Treating Your Hearing Loss

When you treat your hearing loss, you not only reduce your risk of loneliness, but all the health risks that are associated with it. Hearing aids have been found to help people to rebuild relationships and regain their sense of independence by amplifying sounds they struggle with and make it easier to connect again. Call today to find out how hearing aids can help you!