As your body ages, it isn’t difficult to detect the changes. You develop wrinkles. You begin to lose your hair or it turns grey. Your knees start to be a little more sore. Your skin gets a little droopy in places. Perhaps your eyesight and your hearing both begin to fade a little. These indicators are hard to miss.
But the affect getting older has on the mind is not always so obvious. You might find that you are having to put significant events on the calendar because you’re having trouble with your memory. Perhaps you miss important events or forget what you were doing more often. The trouble is that this kind of cognitive decline takes place so slowly and gradually that you might never realize it. For those with hearing loss, the psychological consequence can frequently exacerbate this decline.
As you age, there are, luckily, some exercises you can do to help your brain stay clear. And you might even have some fun!
The link between hearing and cognition
Most individuals will slowly lose their hearing as they get older (for a wide variety of reasons). The risk of cognitive decline will then increase. So, why does loss of hearing increase the danger of cognitive decline? There are several silent risk factors as revealed by research.
- There can be atrophy of the part of the brain that processes sound when someone has neglected hearing loss. Sometimes, it’s put to other uses, but in general, this is not very good for your mental health.
- Neglected hearing loss can easily result in a sense of social isolation. This isolation means you’re speaking less, interacting less, and spending more time on your own, and your cognition can suffer as a consequence.
- Untreated hearing loss can also trigger depression and other mental health problems. And having these mental health issues can increase an associated danger of cognitive decline.
So, can hearing loss turn into dementia? Well, not directly. But mental decline, including dementia, will be more likely for a person who has untreated hearing loss. Those risks, however, can be significantly reduced by getting hearing loss treated. And those risks can be lowered even more by increasing your overall brain function or cognition. A little preventative management can go a long way.
How to enhance cognitive function
So how do you approach giving your brain the workout it requires to improve mental function? Well, the good news is that your brain is the same as any other body part: you can always accomplish improvement, it simply requires a little exercise. So increase your brain’s sharpness by engaging in some of these fun activities.
Gardening
Growing your own vegetables and fruits can be very rewarding all by itself (it’s also a delicious hobby). Your cognition can be enhanced with this unique mix of hard work and deep thinking. Here are a few reasons why:
- You get a little moderate physical exercise. Increased blood flow is good for your brain and blood flow will be improved by moving buckets around and digging in the soil.
- Anxiety relief and a little bit of serotonin. This can help keep mental health concerns including depression and anxiety at bay.
- As you’re working, you will need to think about what you’re doing. You have to analyze the situation using planning and problem solving skills.
As an added bonus, you get healthy fruits and vegetables from your hobby. Of course, not all gardens have to be focused on food. You can grow flowers, wild grasses, cacti, or anything your green thumb desires!
Arts and crafts
You don’t have to be artistically inclined to enjoy arts and crafts. You can make a simple sculpture using popsicle sticks. Or you can get started with pottery and make a cool clay pot! It’s the process that is important when it comes to exercising the brain, not so much the specific medium. That’s because arts and crafts (painting, sculpting, building) cultivate your imagination, your critical thinking skills, and your sense of aesthetics.
Here are a number of reasons why getting involved in arts and crafts will improve cognition:
- You need to use lots of fine motor skills. And while that may feel automatic, your brain and nervous system are really doing a lot of work. Over the long haul, your cognitive function will be healthier.
- You have to utilize your imagination and process sensory inputs in real time. This requires a ton of brain power! You can stimulate your imagination by participating in these unique brain exercises.
- You will need to keep your attention engaged in the task you’re doing. This type of real time thinking can help keep your cognitive processes limber and flexible.
Your level of talent doesn’t really matter, whether you’re creating a work of art or working on a paint-by-numbers. What matters is that you’re utilizing your imagination and keeping your brain sharp.
Swimming
Going for a swim can help keep you healthy in a lot of ways! 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 swimming in the pool. Obviously, colliding with somebody else in the pool wouldn’t be safe.
You also have to pay attention to your rhythms. How long can you stay underwater before you need to breathe? Things like that. This is still an effective mental exercise even if it’s occurring in the back of your brain. And mental decline will progress more slowly when you get involved in physical exercise because it helps get more blood to the brain.
Meditation
Spending a little silent alone time with your mind. Meditation can help calm down your thoughts (and calm your sympathetic nervous system too). These “mindfulness” meditation methods are designed to help you focus on your thinking. In this way, meditation can:
- Improve your memory
- Improve your attention span
- Help you learn better
You can become even more conscious of your mental faculties by getting involved in meditation.
Reading
It’s good for you to read! And it’s also quite enjoyable. There’s that old adage: a book can take you anywhere. In a book, you can go everywhere, such as outer space, ancient Egypt, or the bottom of the ocean. When you’re following along with a story, manifesting landscapes in your imagination, and mentally conjuring up characters, you’re using a lot of brain power. A big portion of your brain is involved when you’re reading. Reading isn’t possible without employing your imagination and thinking a great deal.
Consequently, one of the best ways to sharpen the mind is by reading. Imagination is required to picture what’s going on, your memory to follow along with the plot, and when you complete the book, you get a rewarding dose of serotonin.
Take some time each day to strengthen your brain power by doing some reading, regardless of whether it’s fiction, science fiction, non-fiction, or whatever you prefer. And, for the record, audiobooks are essentially as good as reading with your eyes.
Treat your hearing loss to minimize cognitive risks
Even if you do every little thing correctly, untreated hearing loss can continue to increase your risks of cognitive decline. Which means, even if you garden, swim, and read, you’ll still be fighting an uphill battle, unless you get your hearing loss treated.
Your social skills, your thinking, and your memory and cognition will get better once you have your hearing loss addressed (usually with hearing aids).
Is hearing loss an issue for you? Contact us today to schedule a hearing test and reconnect to life!