It’s possible to overlook the connection between your overall health with the health of your hearing. However, studies have been conducted that found the two components are intricately interwoven. These studies illustrate that many unhealthy habits we may regularly engage in are linked to hearing loss of varying degrees. Good news, though: you can tailor your lifestyle to cut out these risks to hearing loss by employing better habits.
Listening to an MP3 Player
Whether you like donning the ear buds of your MP3 during a boring lecture hall or to drown out subway noises, you’re unfortunately bringing on hearing loss that could be temporary or long-term. Ear buds are the worst culprit because there’s lots of sound pulsating into the inner ear where it has no place to diffuse correctly. The result of all that energy crashing against your eardrum? Hearing damage in young and old.
Sedentary Lifestyle
A big threat to kids, teens and adults in this country is obesity, an unfortunate side effect of a sedentary lifestyle that does not contain proper exercise and eating healthy foods. While obesity presents many health dangers, one of the most serious is the possibility of developing diabetes, which is characterized by poor blood flow. This can put obese people at greater risk of hearing loss. You can curb this by exercising regularly and eating a healthy diet full of fruits, veggies and whole grains.
Loud Noises
Attending a rock concert is a fun activity but the extremely loud noises this type of event produces can damage your hearing. That’s because each pulse of the high-decibel speakers can bring on temporary and long-term damage to your ears. As a precautionary measure, don’t sit close to the speakers when at a concert. Concerts aren’t the only culprits. A similar effect can be seen when hiking up the volume on the TV or video games to dangerous levels, which can have a detrimental effect on your hearing.
Smoking
Smoking is detrimental to your overall health, to be sure. However, your hearing can be the hardest hit because it doesn’t get as much attention as the lungs or respiratory system. There is a definite connection between smoking and hearing, with this bad habit posing a significant threat due to the chemicals in the cigarettes. These can damage the vibration sensors in the ear, posing far-reaching impacts because of the difficulty picking up on small sounds.
Failure to Visit Your Doctor
Failing to see the doctor on a regular basis? You may be missing out on valuable opportunities to evaluate your hearing annually. Your doctor is trained to pick up on hearing losses and treat them successfully if they can be caught early. It’s your responsibility to see your doctor yearly so he can track any possible changes, assess your hearing risk and give you advice on how to improve your lifestyle and lower your hearing loss risk.
