If you’re not managing your symptoms correctly, hearing loss can hospitalize you. You may think that this is a bit of an exaggeration. Most individuals think of hearing loss as an inconvenience that makes it hard to hear the TV or what somebody is saying at worst.
But the long-term health impacts of neglected hearing loss is beginning to get serious attention from researchers.
How is Your Health Related to Hearing Loss?
At first glance, hearing loss doesn’t appear to have much to do with other health concerns. But research carried out by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health suggests that over time, hospital visits can increase by as much as 50% for someone with neglected hearing loss. The possibility of severe health issues rises the longer hearing loss goes untreated.
That’s a curious finding: what does hearing have to do with your total health? That question can have a complicated answer.
Hearing Health And Mental Health
Here are a number of the health issues associated with hearing loss:
- An increase in depression and anxiety. Basically, the likelihood of anxiety and depression rises with hearing loss and that will bring about health problems both physical and mental.
- Balance problems. Hearing loss can make it harder to keep your balance and maintain situational focus.
- Memory can begin failing. As a matter of fact, your odds of getting dementia is twice as high with neglected hearing loss.
Hearing Aids Really Help
It’s not all gloom and doom, however. Far from it. The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School research reveals that up to 75% of hearing loss related cognitive decline can be stopped in its tracks by one easy solution: using a hearing aid.
The health risks linked to hearing loss can be seriously reduced by wearing hearing aids. The following improvements were noted in people who wore hearing aids for as little as two weeks:
- Severe brain injury reductions.
- Improvements in awareness and balance.
- Brain function improvements.
The team from Johns Hopkins studied data from 77,000 patients collected over around 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 costs money.
Preserving Your Hearing And Your Health
Hearing loss is a perfectly typical part of getting older, though it’s not exclusive to getting older. Because of accidents, occupational hazards, and disease, hearing loss can happen at any age.
However or whenever you lose your hearing, it’s very important to have it checked. Otherwise, your health could be negatively impacted.