Hearing aids could benefit approximately 28 million people. What this means is that 28 million people could here their world clearer if they had hearing aids. But there are also a number of other, rather unexpected health advantages that you can start to take advantage of thanks to your hearing aids.
Your physical and mental health can, as it so happens, be helped by something as easy as using hearing aids. These tiny devices can help prevent (or forestall) everything from depression to fall-induced-injury. In many ways, your hearing aids can help you stay on your feet.
Mental Health Advantages of Hearing Aids
Modern medical studies have firmly established a connection between hearing loss and cognitive decline. Currently, the thinking is that, for a mixture of mental, social, and physical factors, hearing loss can bring about an escalated danger of mental illness, such as cognitive decline, anxiety, depression, and dementia.
So it’s no surprise that the latest analyses has shown that hearing aids may have substantial mental health benefits.
Dementia Risks Reduced
Your risk of dementia can be reduced, as reported by one study, by nearly 20%. That’s a fantastic advantage when the only thing you need to do is remember to wear your hearing aids each day.
In other studies, the onset of dementia was slowed by as much as two years by wearing hearing aids. This is really encouraging and with more research conducted to replicate and clarify these numbers, we can come a long way in the battle against mental decline and illness.
Depression And Anxiety Can be Reduced
Lots of individuals suffer from depression and anxiety even if they don’t have hearing loss. But there’s plenty of evidence to suggest that people with hearing loss are at increased risk of developing both depression and anxiety as time passes.
Wearing your hearing aids can help you stay socially active and mentally engaged. If those factors were contributing to anxiety and depression, they can help.
You’ll Feel Less Lonely
While it might not sound as dire or imperative as dementia, loneliness can be a big issue for people with neglected hearing loss, caused by and exacerbating a sense of social isolation. That social separation can cause considerable changes to your mood. So being able to remain social and connected thanks to your hearing aid can be a big benefit.
And this is a good reason why, for example, your hearing aid can help prevent conditions such as depression. To a certain degree, all of these health conditions connect in some way.
The Physical Advantages of Hearing Aids
There’s some evidence which suggests that as hearing loss symptoms become more obvious, your danger of stroke escalates. But these studies are in preliminary stages. The most pronounced (and perceptible) physical benefit of hearing aids is a little simpler: you’ll fall less often.
There are a couple of explanations for this:
- Situational awareness: This means you’ll be more capable of steering clear of obstacles that could cause a fall.
- Fall detection: In some cases, it’s not the fall that’s perilous. Instead, it’s that you can’t get back up that produces possible danger. Fall detection is a standard feature of many newer hearing aid models. You can program emergency phone numbers into your phone which will automatically be called if you take a tumble.
As you age falling down can have a disastrous effect on your health. So preventing falls (or reducing the damage from falling) can be a major advantage that ripples throughout your general health.
Wear Your Hearing Aids Everyday
It’s worth noting that all of these benefits apply to people who have hearing conditions. If your hearing is healthy, then wearing a hearing aid will probably not decrease your risk of dementia, for example.
But if you do suffer from hearing loss, the smartest thing you can do for your ears, and for the rest of your body, is to wear your hearing aids.