If you’re not treating your symptoms properly, hearing loss can hospitalize you. You might think that this is somewhat of an exaggeration. We’re used to thinking of hearing loss as little more than an inconvenience – something that makes the news a little tougher to hear or, at worst, makes you unknowingly agree to something you didn’t mean.
But the long-term health impacts of untreated hearing loss is beginning to get serious attention from researchers.
What Does Hearing Loss Have to do With Your Health?
At first sight, hearing loss doesn’t appear to have much to do with other health indicators. But research carried out by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health suggests that neglected hearing loss can result in a 50% increase in hospital visits over time. The chance of severe health issues goes up the longer hearing loss remains untreated.
That’s a curious finding: how is your overall state of health associated with your ability to hear? The answer is complicated.
Hearing Health And Mental Health
Untreated hearing loss has been associated with numerous other health problems, like:
- Balance balance issues. Hearing loss can make it more difficult to keep your balance and keep your situational focus.
- Memory can start to fail. In fact, your odds of developing dementia double with untreated hearing loss.
- An increase in depression and anxiety. Basically, the likelihood of depression and anxiety rises with hearing loss and that will lead to health issues both physical and mental.
Hearing Aids: A Real Answer
There’s some good news though. The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School research indicates that up to 75% of the mental decline associated with hearing loss can be stopped in its tracks by one basic solution: using a hearing aid.
Wearing a hearing aid has a powerful impact on putting an end to the dangers linked to untreated hearing loss. According to the research, people who wore hearing aids for only two weeks saw:
- Improvements in brain function.
- Balance and awareness improvements.
- Reductions in severe brain injuries.
The team from Johns Hopkins studied data from 77,000 patients collected over about twenty years. And the conclusion is surprisingly simple: safeguarding your hearing is essential to preserving your health. Taking care of your hearing health also helps your finances, because being sick costs money.
Preserving Your Hearing And Your Health
Hearing loss is a perfectly common part of getting older, although it’s not exclusive to getting older. Because of accidents, disease, and occupational hazards, hearing loss can occur regardless of how old you are.
However or whenever you lose your hearing, it’s extremely important to deal with it. Your health could depend on it.