An estimated 28 million people could benefit from using hearing aids. Of course, when we discuss statistics like that, we normally mean that those 28 million individuals would hear their surroundings a little better if they had some help (in the form of a specialized device). But your hearing aids can also help you enjoy some other health advantages.
As it turns out, something as easy as wearing your hearing aids could be good for your physical and mental health. Everything from depression to a risk of falling can be slowed or even prevented by these devices. Your hearing aids can literally help you stay on your feet.
Hearing Aids And Mental Health Advantages
The link between untreated hearing loss and cognitive decline is fairly well established by modern medical studies. The current thinking is that, for a mixture of mental, social, and physical causes, hearing loss can bring about an escalated danger of mental illness, such as anxiety, depression, cognitive decline, and dementia.
So it’s no surprise that recent analyses has suggested that hearing aids may have considerable mental health advantages.
Lowering Your Chances of Dementia
According to 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 need to do is remember to wear your hearing aids each day.
In other studies, the onset of dementia was slowed by as much as two years by wearing hearing aids. Further research needs to be conducted to help clarify and replicate these results, but it’s certainly encouraging.
Decrease Anxiety And Depression
Many people suffer from depression and anxiety even if hearing loss is not a problem for them. But there’s plenty of evidence to indicate that people who have hearing loss are at increased risk of developing both anxiety and depression as time goes on.
Wearing your hearing aids can help keep you socially involved and mentally connected. Hearing aids can be especially helpful if those factors are contributing to depression and anxiety.
You Won’t Feel as Lonely
While it may not sound as serious or imperative as dementia, for people who have untreated hearing loss, loneliness can be a real issue, caused by and exacerbating a sense of social solitude. Your general mood can be considerably affected by social separation. So it can be a huge benefit if your hearing aids can help you continue to be socially active.
To be sure, this ties together with your hearing aids’ ability to lower the risks of depression, for example. To a certain degree, all of these health problems connect in some manner.
The Physical Benefits of Hearing Aids
As your hearing impairment gets worse, there is some research that shows that you could be at a higher risk of stroke. But that specific research is obviously in the preliminary stages. It’s a little simpler to recognize the more pronounced physical advantage of hearing aids: you’ll fall less often.
There are a couple of reasons for this:
- Situational awareness: This means you’ll be more capable of steering clear of obstacles that might cause a fall. For instance, if your pet is running to greet you, you hear them and anticipate them racing around the corner.
- Fall detection: Frequently, it’s getting back up after a fall that is the significant danger, not the fall itself. Fall detection is a built-in feature of many newer hearing aid models. With specific settings equipped, when you have a fall, a call will immediately be made to one of your pre-programmed emergency contacts so they know to check on you.
Falling can have fairly substantial health impacts, particularly as you age. So your overall health can be protected by reducing damage from falls or preventing them altogether.
Wear Your Hearing Aids Everyday
It’s worth keeping in mind that all of these advantages apply to individuals who have hearing ailments. If you have healthy hearing, then using a hearing aid will most likely not decrease your risk of dementia, for example.
But using your hearing aids, if you do have hearing loss, is the smartest thing you can do for overall health.
