Hearing aids could benefit approximately 28 million people. This means that 28 million people could here their world better if they wore hearing aids. But there are also some other, relatively surprising health benefits that you can begin to enjoy thanks to your hearing aids.
Your physical and mental health can, as it so happens, be helped by something as straight forward as wearing hearing aids. Everything from a risk of falling to depression can be slowed or even stopped by these gadgets. In more ways than one, your hearing aids can help keep you on your feet.
Mental Health Advantages of Hearing Aids
Modern medical research has solidly established a link between cognitive decline and hearing loss. Currently, the thinking is that, for a combination of mental, social, and physical factors, hearing loss can bring about an increased risk of mental illness, including anxiety, depression, cognitive decline, and dementia.
So it’s not surprising that the latest analyses has shown that hearing aids may have significant mental health advantages.
Lowering Your Chances of Dementia
According to one study, wearing your hearing aids can help decrease your risk of developing dementia by as much as 18%. That’s a wonderful benefit when the only thing you need to do is remember to wear your hearing aids on a daily basis.
Other studies have suggested that wearing your hearing aids on a regular basis can slow the onset of dementia by up to a couple of years. This is really encouraging and with more research done to replicate and clarify these figures, we can come a long way in the fight against mental decline and illness.
Decrease Depression And Anxiety
Many people suffer from depression and anxiety even if they don’t have hearing loss. But there is enough evidence to suggest that those who have hearing loss are at increased risk of developing both anxiety and depression as time passes.
Wearing your hearing aids can help you stay socially involved and mentally connected. If those factors were contributing to anxiety and depression, they can help.
You’ll be Less Lonely
While it might not seem as dire or imperative as dementia, isolation can be a big issue for people with neglected hearing loss, social isolation often being the cause and adding fuel to the fire. Your general mood can be considerably influenced by social isolation. So being able to remain social and connected thanks to your hearing aid can be a huge advantage.
To be certain, this ties together with your hearing aids’ ability to decrease the risks of depression, for example. To some degree, all of these health concerns are linked in some manner.
Hearing Aids And Physical Benefits
As your hearing impairment worsens, there is some research that shows that you could be at a higher risk of having a stroke. But that specific research is obviously on the preliminary side. It’s a little easier to recognize the more pronounced physical advantage of hearing aids: you’ll fall less often.
There are a couple of explanations for this:
- Fall detection: Often, it’s getting back up after a fall that is the real hazard, not the fall itself. Fall detection is a built-in feature of many newer hearing aid models. You can save emergency phone numbers into your phone which will be automatically called if you take a tumble.
- Situational awareness: As an example, if your pet is running up to you, you hear them and anticipate them rushing around the corner.
As you age falling down can have a devastating effect on your health. So your overall health can be protected by reducing damage from falls or avoiding them altogether.
Wear Your Hearing Aids Everyday
These benefits, it’s worth pointing out, apply to people who have hearing impairment. If you have healthy hearing, then using a hearing aid will likely not reduce your risk of dementia, for instance.
But using your hearing aids, if you do have hearing loss, is the best thing you can do for overall health.