Hearing aids could benefit around 28 million people. Which means that 28 million people could here their world better if they wore hearing aids. But your hearing aids can also help you take advantage of some other health advantages.
Your physical and mental health can, as it turns out, be helped by something as simple as wearing hearing aids. These little gadgets can help prevent (or forestall) everything from depression to fall-induced-injury. Your hearing aids can literally keep you on your feet.
Hearing Aids And Mental Health Benefits
Modern medical studies have solidly established a link between cognitive decline and hearing loss. Mental illnesses like depression, cognitive decline, anxiety, and dementia, in line with current thinking, can be triggered by hearing loss as a consequence of a mix of mental, physical and social factors.
So it’s not surprising that recent analyses has shown that hearing aids could have significant mental health benefits.
Reducing Your Chances of Dementia
Based on one study, wearing your hearing aids can help lower your chances of developing dementia by up to 18%. That’s a wonderful benefit when the only thing you have to do is remember to wear your hearing aids every day.
In other research, the arrival of dementia was slowed by as much as two years by using hearing aids. Further research needs to be conducted to help clarify and replicate these findings, but it’s definitely encouraging.
Reduce Anxiety And Depression
Lots of individuals suffer from depression and anxiety even if hearing loss is not a problem for them. But individuals with hearing loss have been shown to be at a higher risk of depression and anxiety over time.
Wearing your hearing aids can help you stay socially involved and mentally engaged. If those factors were contributing to anxiety and depression, they can help.
You’ll Feel Less Lonely
While dementia might sound much more severe, solitude can be a serious issue for people who suffer from neglected hearing loss, caused by and exacerbating a sense of social solitude. Your overall mood can be considerably impacted by social isolation. So it can be a tremendous advantage if your hearing aids can help you stay socially involved.
And this is a good reason why, for example, your hearing aid can help counter conditions like depression. All of these health issues, to a certain degree, are in some way connected.
Hearing Aids And Physical Benefits
As your hearing impairment gets worse, there is some evidence that you could be at a higher risk of having a stroke. But these studies are in preliminary stages. The most pronounced (and noticeable) physical advantage of hearing aids is a little more straightforward: you won’t fall as often.
This happens for two reasons:
- Situational awareness: With hearing aids, your situational awareness will be increased letting you stay away of obstacles and avoid falling. As an example, if your pet is running to greet you, you hear them and anticipate them rushing around the corner.
- Fall detection: At times, it’s not the fall that’s dangerous. Instead, it’s that you can’t get back up that creates possible danger. Fall detection is a standard feature of many newer hearing aid designs. With particular settings enabled, when you have a fall, a call will automatically be made to one of your pre-programmed emergency contacts so they will know to check on you.
Falling can have very substantial health effects, particularly as you get older. So preventing falls (or minimizing the damage from falling) can be a significant benefit that ripples throughout your overall health.
Be Sure to Wear Your Hearing Aids
These benefits, it’s worth pointing out, apply to individuals who suffer from hearing impairment. Hearing aids won’t, for instance, help someone with healthy hearing avoid falling.
But if you do have hearing loss, the smartest thing you can do for your hearing, and for the rest of your body, is to use your hearing aids.
