How Hearing Affects Your Overall Health
Like many of us, you might have made a goal to focus on your health in the new year. One key component of your overall health includes your hearing. You need to address any issues you experience with your hearing or it can start to affect these areas:
Memory
While hearing loss itself is uncomfortable, it can lead to even more uncomfortable symptoms like memory problems. When you’re struggling to hear faint sounds, your brain is working harder to process them. Since it is working so hard to try to understand what you’re hearing, it may not commit the information to memory.
Hearing loss and memory problems can lead to even further cognitive decline. Studies have shown that people with untreated hearing loss are at a greater risk for dementia and may experience cognitive decline earlier in life than those without untreated hearing loss.
Mental Health
Hearing loss can lead you to feelings of increased stress, anxiety, and even depression if left untreated. As you begin to experience hearing loss, you might start to feel disconnected from your friends and family. It becomes difficult to partake in conversations, so you might feel like you need to remove yourself from social settings. This can lead to feeling isolated and misunderstood.
It’s also distressing to feel like you’re not functioning as you once were. If your hearing feels off, you might start to worry about what the underlying cause could be and what your long-term quality of life will look like. Constant worry can lead to health anxiety.
Balance
Feeling off balance, dizzy, or lightheaded can all be signs of a vestibular balance disorder. Bad balance can cause you harm in a variety of ways. When you’re off balance, you are at risk for falling and injuring yourself. A continual feeling of unbalance, commonly referred to as vertigo, can also leave you feeling nauseous, and it can distract you from your day.
Hearing loss and balance disorders can have a huge impact on your life, as well as your loved ones’ lives, so maintaining your hearing health should be a priority. The sooner you recognize and begin to treat your hearing loss, the less of an impact it will have on your overall health.
If you or your loved one is experiencing hearing loss, call our office to set up an appointment for a hearing test today.