Lately, Chris has been a little bit forgetful. For the second month in a row, she missed her doctor’s appointment and needs to reschedule. And she even forgot to run the dishwasher before bed (looks as if she’ll be handwashing her coffee cup this morning). Lately, she’s been allowing things slip through the cracks. Chris has been feeling mentally fatigued and depleted all the time but, curiously, she doesn’t feel forgetful.
It can be difficult to put your finger on that feeling until it’s sneaking up on you. But in spite of how forgetful you might feel, the problem isn’t really about memory. The real problem is your hearing. And that means you can significantly improve your memory by using one small device.
How to Enhance Your Overall Cognitive Function And Memory
So, the first step you can take to improve your memory, to get everybody’s name right at your next meeting or to make sure you schedule that day off for your eye exam, is to get your hearing tested. If you have hearing loss a hearing examination will alert you to how bad your impairment is.
Chris hasn’t detected any signs of hearing loss yet so she hesitates to make an appointment. She doesn’t really have a problem hearing in a noisy room. And she’s never had a tough time hearing any of her team members at work.
But she could have some amount of hearing loss even though she hasn’t detected any symptoms yet. In fact, one of the first signs of hearing impairment is loss of memory. And strain on the brain is the underlying cause. It works like this:
- Slowly and almost imperceptibly, your hearing starts to diminish.
- However mild, your ears begin to notice a lack of sound input.
- Your brain begins working a little bit harder to translate and amplify the sounds you are able to hear.
- Everything feels normal, but it takes more work on your brain’s part to make sense of the sounds.
Your brain only has so much processing power which can really be dragged down by that kind of burden. So you have less mental energy for things such as, well, memory or for other cognitive processes.
Hearing Loss And Dementia
When loss of memory is extreme, the result could be dementia. And there is a link between dementia and hearing loss, though what the precise cause-effect relationship is, continues to be somewhat uncertain. Still, there is an elevated danger of cognitive decline with people who have untreated hearing loss, which can begin as memory loss and ultimately (over the years) develop into more severe issues.
Wearing Hearing Aids Will Help You Prevent Fatigue
That’s the reason why treating your hearing loss is indispensable. Marked improvement in cognitive function was observed in 97.3% of people with hearing loss who used hearing aids for at least 18 months according to one study.
Numerous other studies have revealed similar results. It’s unquestionably helpful to wear hearing aids. Your general cognitive function improves when your brain doesn’t have to struggle as hard to hear. Memory loss and issues with cognitive function can have numerous complex factors and hearing aids aren’t always a magic bullet.
The First Symptom of Hearing Loss is Often Memory Loss
This kind of memory loss is usually not permanent, it’s an indication of mental fatigue more than an underlying change in how your brain operates. But that can change if the fundamental issues remain neglected.
So if you’re recognizing some memory loss, it can be an early warning of hearing loss. You should schedule an appointment with your hearing professional as soon as you notice these symptoms. As soon as your fundamental hearing issues are addressed, your memory should go back to normal.
As an added benefit, your hearing health will most likely improve, as well. A hearing aid can help stop the decline in your hearing. These little devices, in a sense, will improve your total health not just your hearing.