As your body gets older, it isn’t difficult to notice the changes. You get wrinkles. You begin to lose your hair or it turns grey. Your knees start to be a little more sore. Some drooping of the skin begins to happen in certain places. Maybe you begin to observe some fading of your eyesight and hearing. It’s pretty hard not to see these changes.
But the affect getting older has on the mind isn’t always so obvious. You might find that you’re needing to put important events on the calendar because you’re having issues with your memory. Maybe you find yourself spacing out more and missing significant events. The trouble is that this type of cognitive decline happens so slowly and gradually that you may never realize it. For those with hearing loss, the psychological consequence can frequently exacerbate this decline.
As you get older, there are, luckily, some exercises you can do to help your brain remain sharp. And the good news is, these exercises can be utterly enjoyable!
The link between hearing and cognition
There are a number of reasons why individuals will gradually lose their hearing as they age. The risk of cognitive decline will then increase. So, why does hearing loss increase the chances of cognitive decline? There are several hidden risk factors as revealed by research.
- There can be atrophy of the portion of the brain that processes sound when someone has untreated hearing loss. The brain may assign some resources, but in general, this is not very good for cognitive health.
- Neglected hearing loss can easily result in a sense of social separation. This isolation means you’re talking less, socializing less, and spending more time by yourself, and your cognition can suffer as a consequence.
- Mental health problems and depression can be the outcome of neglected hearing loss. And having these mental health concerns can boost the corresponding risk of mental decline.
So, can hearing loss turn into dementia? Well, not directly. But neglected hearing loss can raise your risk of cognitive decline, up to and including dementia. Those risks, however, can be greatly lowered by getting hearing loss treated. And those risks can be lowered even more by boosting your general brain function or cognition. A little preventative management can go a long way.
Increasing mental function
So, how can you be sure to develop your mental function and give your brain the workout it needs? Well, like any other part of your body, the amount and kind of exercise you do go a long way. So increase your brain’s sharpness by doing some of these fun activities.
Gardening
Growing your own fruits and vegetables can be incredibly rewarding all on its own (it’s also a tasty hobby). Your cognition can be improved with this unique mix of hard work and deep thinking. This happens for a number of reasons:
- Relief of anxiety and a little bit of serotonin. This can help keep mental health problems like depression and anxiety in check.
- You need to think about what you’re doing as you’re doing it. You have to apply planning skills, problem solving skills, and examine the situation. This gives your brain a great deal of great practice.
- Gardening involves moderate physical activity. Increased blood flow is good for your brain and blood flow will be increased by moving buckets around and digging in the soil.
As an added bonus, you get healthy vegetables and fruits from your hobby. Of course, not all gardens need to be focused on food. You can grow flowers, wild grasses, cacti, or anything your green thumb wants!
Arts and crafts
Arts and crafts can be enjoyed by anybody regardless of artistic ability. Something like a simple popsicle stick sculpture can be fun. Or you can get started with pottery and make an awesome clay pot! With regard to exercising your brain, the medium matters a lot less than the process. Because your critical thinking abilities, imagination, and sense of aesthetics are developed by doing arts and crafts (sculpting, painting, building).
Arts and crafts can be good for your cognitive ability because:
- It requires making use of fine motor skills. And while that may feel automatic, your brain and nervous system are truly doing a lot of work. Over the long haul, your cognitive function will be healthier.
- You need to process sensory input in real time and you will have to employ your imagination to do that. A lot of brain power is required to achieve that. You can stimulate your imagination by participating in these unique brain exercises.
- You will need to keep your attention engaged in the activity you’re doing. You can help your cognitive process remain clear and flexible by participating in this kind of real time thinking.
Whether you pick up a paint-by-numbers kit or create your own original work of art, your level of talent doesn’t really matter. What matters is that you’re utilizing your imagination and keeping your brain sharp.
Swimming
There are a lot of ways that swimming can keep you healthy. Plus, a hot afternoon in the pool is always a great time. And while it’s clearly good for your physical health, there are some ways that swimming can also be good for your cognitive health.
Your brain needs to be engaged in things like spatial awareness when you’re in the pool swimming. Obviously, colliding with someone else in the pool wouldn’t be safe.
You also have to think about your rhythms. When will you need to come up for a breath of air when you’re under water? That kind of thing. This is still an excellent mental exercise even if it’s happening in the back of your mind. Plus, physical activity of any kind can really help get blood to the brain pumping, and that can be good at helping to slow down cognitive decline.
Meditation
Just a little time for you and your mind. As your thoughts calm down, your sympathetic nervous system also gets calm. Sometimes called mindfulness meditation, these methods are made to help you focus on what you’re thinking. Meditation can help:
- Improve your attention span
- Help you learn better
- Improve your memory
You can become even more aware of your mental faculties by doing meditation.
Reading
Reading is good for you! And it’s also really fun. There’s that old adage: a book can take anywhere. The bottom of the ocean, the distant past, outer space, you can travel everywhere in a book. When you’re following along with a story, creating landscapes in your imagination, and mentally conjuring up characters, you’re using a lot of brain power. A huge portion of your brain is involved when you’re reading. Reading isn’t possible without employing your imagination and thinking a lot.
Consequently, reading is one of the most ideal ways to focus your thinking. Imagination is required to visualize what’s going on, your memory to follow along with the plot, and when you complete the book, you get a fulfilling dose of serotonin.
What you read doesn’t actually matter, fiction, non-fiction, science fiction, so long as you devote some time each day reading and building your brainpower! And, for the record, audiobooks are basically as good as reading with your eyes.
Manage your hearing loss to lessen cognitive risks
Disregarded hearing loss can raise your danger of mental decline, even if you do everything right. Which means, even if you swim and read and garden, you’ll still be fighting an uphill battle, unless you manage your hearing loss.
Your social skills, your thinking, and your memory and cognition will get better once you have your hearing loss treated (normally with hearing aids).
Is hearing loss an issue for you? Reconnect your life by contacting us today for a hearing assessment.
