You can wind up in the hospital if you don’t correctly manage your hearing loss symptoms. You might think that this is somewhat of an exaggeration. We’re usually consider hearing loss as not much more than an inconvenience – something that makes the news a bit tougher to hear or, at worst, makes you unwittingly agree to something you didn’t mean.
But current research is causing alarm over the long-term health impacts of neglected hearing loss.
How is Your Health Linked to Hearing Loss?
Hearing loss doesn’t, at first glance, seem as if it has very much of a link to other health concerns. But research carried out by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health indicates that over time, hospital visits can increase by as much as 50% for somebody with neglected hearing loss. The longer the hearing loss goes untreated, the more significant the health havoc get.
That’s a curious finding: what does hearing have to do with your overall health? The answer is challenging.
Hearing Health And Mental Health
Here are a few of the health issues linked to hearing loss:
- Memory can start to fail. In fact, your odds of getting dementia is twice as high with untreated hearing loss.
- An increase in depression and anxiety. Basically, the likelihood of anxiety and depression rises with hearing loss and that will lead to health issues both physical and mental.
- Loss of balance. Hearing loss can make it harder to keep your balance and maintain situational awareness.
Hearing Aids: An effective Answer
It’s not all gloom and doom, though. Far from it. The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School research suggests that up to 75% of the mental decline linked to hearing loss can be halted by one basic solution: using a hearing aid.
Wearing a hearing aid has a powerful impact on eliminating the risks connected to neglected hearing loss. According to the study, people who wore hearing aids for just two weeks saw:
- Balance and awareness improvements.
- Brain function improvements.
- Reductions in severe brain injuries.
The researchers from Johns Hopkins looked at data from 77,000 patients collected over around two decades. And the conclusion is surprisingly simple: protecting your hearing is essential to maintaining your health. Being sick can be costly, so taking care of your hearing also safeguards your financial well being.
Preserving Your Hearing And Your Health
Hearing loss is not exclusive to getting older but it is a part of it. Due to accidents, occupational hazards, and disease, hearing loss can develop at any age.
However or whenever you lose your hearing, it’s very important to have it checked. Your health could depend on it.