An estimated 28 million people could benefit from wearing hearing aids. Needless to say, when we discuss statistics like that, we usually mean that those 28 million people would hear their surroundings a little more clearly if they had some help (like hearing aids). But your hearing aids can also help you take advantage of some other health advantages.
It turns out that something as easy as using your hearing aids could be good for your mental and physical health. Everything from depression to a risk of falling can be delayed or even prevented by these devices. In more ways than one, your hearing aids can help you stay on your feet.
Mental Health Benefits of Hearing Aids
Modern medical research has firmly demonstrated a link between hearing loss and cognitive decline. The current thinking is that, for a combination of mental, social, and physical reasons, hearing loss can lead to an escalated danger of mental illness, such as cognitive decline, anxiety, depression, and dementia.
So it’s not surprising that the latest analyses has shown that hearing aids might have substantial mental health benefits.
Dementia Risks Reduced
Your chances of dementia can be lowered, according to one study, by nearly 20%. And all you have to do to take advantage of this awesome advantage is remember to wear your hearing every day.
In other studies, the onset of dementia was slowed by as much as two years by using hearing aids. Further research needs to be done to help explain and replicate these results, but it’s definitely encouraging.
Anxiety And Depression Can be Reduced
Lots of people suffer from anxiety and depression even if hearing loss is not a problem for them. But individuals who suffer from hearing loss have been shown to have a higher risk of anxiety and depression over time.
When you wear hearing aids, you are likely to stay more tuned in mentally and engaged socially. If those were contributing factors to depression and anxiety, they can help.
You Won’t be as Lonely
While dementia might sound much more severe, for people who have untreated hearing loss, loneliness can be a genuine problem, caused by and exacerbating a sense of social isolation. Your overall mood can be dramatically influenced by social separation. So it can be an enormous benefit if your hearing aids can help you stay socially active.
To be sure, this is connected to your hearing aids’ ability to decrease the risks of depression, for instance. All of these health problems, to a certain degree, are in some way connected.
Hearing Aids And Physical Advantages
There’s some evidence which suggests that as hearing loss symptoms become more noticeable, your risk of stroke goes up. But that particular research is undoubtedly on the preliminary side. It’s a little easier to recognize the more pronounced physical advantage of hearing aids: you won’t fall as much.
This takes place for two reasons:
- Situational awareness: If your pet, for instance, is zooming out to say hi, you will hear them coming and will be ready for them to be under your feet.
- Fall detection: Many times, it’s getting back up after a fall that is the significant hazard, not the fall itself. Fall detection is a built-in feature of many newer hearing aid designs. You can program emergency phone numbers into your phone which will be automatically called if you take a tumble.
Falling can have pretty substantial health impacts, especially as you get older. So avoiding falls (or decreasing the damage from falls) can be a huge advantage that ripples throughout your general health.
Wear Your Hearing Aids Everyday
It’s worth noting that all of these benefits apply to those who suffer from hearing conditions. If your hearing is healthy, then using a hearing aid will most likely not decrease your risk of cognitive decline, for example.
But if you do have hearing loss, the smartest thing you can do for your ears, and for the rest of your body, is to wear your hearing aids.