You can wind up in the hospital if you don’t correctly treat your hearing loss symptoms. I know that sounds like an exaggeration. Most people think of hearing loss as an inconvenience that makes it difficult to hear the TV or what somebody is saying at worst.
But current research is causing alarm over the long-term health effects of untreated hearing loss.
What Does Hearing Loss Have to do With Your Health?
Hearing loss doesn’t, at first glance, seem as if it has very much of a relationship with other health concerns. But research conducted by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health indicates that untreated hearing loss can result in a 50% increase in hospital visits over time. The danger of serious health issues rises the longer hearing loss goes untreated.
That’s a curious finding: how is your overall state of health linked to your ability to hear? That question can have a complicated answer.
The Connection Between Mental Health And Hearing
Here are a few of the health concerns connected to hearing loss:
- Loss of balance. Hearing loss can make it harder to keep your balance and keep your situational focus.
- Memory can begin failing. As a matter of fact, your odds of developing dementia is twice as high with neglected hearing loss.
- Higher instance of anxiety and depression. Basically, the likelihood of depression and anxiety rises with hearing loss and that will bring about health problems both physical and mental.
Hearing Aids Really Help
It’s not all doom and gloom, however. Far from it. The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School research indicates that up to 75% of hearing loss related mental decline can be halted by one basic solution: wearing a hearing aid.
The health risks linked to hearing loss can be seriously reduced by using hearing aids. The following improvements were noted in people who used hearing aids for as little as two weeks:
- Brain function improvements.
- Awareness and balance improvements.
- Severe brain injury reductions.
The team from Johns Hopkins looked at data from 77,000 patients collected over roughly twenty years. And what they found is staggeringly simple: safeguarding your hearing is essential to preserving your health. Being sick can be costly, so taking care of your hearing also protects your financial well being.
Caring For Your Health And Your Hearing
Hearing loss is a perfectly typical part of getting older, although it’s not exclusive to aging. Hearing loss can happen at any age due to accidents, occupational hazards, or diseases.
However, it’s essential to address any hearing loss you might be noticing. Otherwise, your health could be negatively impacted.
