Start Your New Year with Better Hearing!

Want to make your New Year’s resolutions count in this new year? Did you know some of the most common New Year’s resolutions not only can make you feel healthier and increase your sense of purpose but can also boost your hearing health? Many common New Year’s resolutions such as a regular exercise practice, eating more healthier, and quitting smoking and drinking not only improve your overall well-being but hearing health as well. This might not be your initial intention starting, but hearing is important and the benefits will serve you all year long and into the future.

Resolve to Stay Active

A sedentary lifestyle can have many negative effects on the quality of your health. Sedentary lifestyles increase all causes of mortality, doubles the risk of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and obesity, and increase the risks of colon cancer, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, lipid disorders, depression, and anxiety. It also increases your risk of hearing loss. This is because while sound is collected by the outer ear, sound is delivered to the brain by tiny hair-like cells in the inner ear.

These cells are incredibly fragile and unfortunately, once they sustain damage it is irreversible. Like all cells throughout your body, they also rely on a healthy and steady supply of blood to maintain their health and function properly. In conjunction with a diet rich in vegetables and whole grains, regular exercise can improve your memory and brain function, fight chronic disease, lower blood pressure, boost your cardiovascular health, improve your sleep, and reduce anxiety and depression. An added benefit is increased hearing protection!

Monitor Your Hearing Health

No matter your age it’s always a good idea to monitor your hearing. However, by the time you reach 65 the risk of hearing loss is one in three people are a risk for hearing loss. By the time people reach 75 one in every two people have hearing loss! The key is early detection. Catching hearing loss early can stop rifts from forming in the relationships which provide intimacy and connection from forming. Hearing loss often develops gradually so people don’t know they even have a loss of hearing. It often starts as just certain subtle tones and pitches. It takes people on average 5 -7 years from the time they suspect they have a hearing loss to treat it. Over this time small misunderstandings build up and even between your significant other and close family members the rifts can be hard to repair. Get on top of your hearing health early and protect your relationships before they have a chance to suffer.

Promote a Healthy Mind

Your relationships are not the thing that can suffer when you have unaddressed hearing loss. The early hearing loss leaves your brain receiving words with missing pieces and sentences with missing words. This leaves your brain to scramble to fill in the blanks and can take away from other cognitive functions such as balance and focus. This is one contributing factor as to how hearing loss increases the risk of accidents and falls which can lead to hospitalizations. Even a mild case of hearing loss can start to cause cognitive decline – a fact which should be of concern for those of a younger generation.

Researchers from the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons found that rates of cognitive decline experienced by people with hearing loss occur earlier than first suspected. From cognitive testing collected from a diverse group of 6,451 people of an average age of 49, the research showed that every 10 dB decrease in hearing correlated to a marked decrease in cognitive ability. Most alarming, the most significant decreases were noted in those patients whose hearing loss was the most minor only a 10 dB reduction. This is alarming because a hearing loss isn’t even considered significantly until there is a 25 dB in hearing!

Protect Against Dementia

The sooner you treat a hearing loss the more likely you can avoid the risk of developing cognitive decline which can lead to dementia. A separate study found that the more severe the hearing loss, the higher the risk of dementia. A moderate hearing loss doubled the risk, a severe risk tripled the risk, and a profound hearing loss increased the risk five-fold. To protect the memories of your life, schedule a hearing loss now. This next year it is important to focus on what is truly important. A small step towards your total health is to invest in hearing health in 2022.