You can end up in the hospital if you don’t properly manage your hearing loss symptoms. You may think that this is a bit of an exaggeration. We usually consider hearing loss as little more than an inconvenience – something that makes the news a little more difficult to hear or, at worst, makes you unwittingly agree to something you didn’t mean.
But the long-term health impacts of untreated hearing loss is beginning to get significant attention from researchers.
How is Your Health Linked to Hearing Loss?
At first glance, hearing loss doesn’t appear to have much to do with other health concerns. But research carried out by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health indicates that neglected hearing loss can lead to a 50% increase in visits to the hospital over time. The risk of severe health issues goes up the longer hearing loss remains untreated.
That’s a puzzling finding: how is your general state of health associated with your ability to hear? The answer is challenging.
The Connection Between Mental Health And Hearing
Untreated hearing loss has been linked to numerous other health issues, including:
- Balance problems. Hearing loss can make it harder to keep your balance and maintain situational awareness.
- Higher instance of anxiety and depression. Basically, the chance of depression and anxiety increases with hearing loss and that will lead to health problems both physical and mental.
- You begin to lose your memory. As a matter of fact, your odds of getting dementia double with untreated hearing loss.
Hearing Aids Really Help
There’s some good news though. The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School research indicates that up to 75% of hearing loss associated mental decline can be halted by one easy solution: wearing a hearing aid.
The health hazards associated with hearing loss can be significantly mitigated by using hearing aids. According to the research, patients who used hearing aids for just two weeks saw:
- Improvements in awareness and balance.
- Severe brain injury reductions.
- Brain function improvements.
The team from Johns Hopkins studied data from 77,000 patients collected over around two decades. And what they found is staggeringly simple: safeguarding your hearing is essential to preserving your health. Being sick usually costs money, so caring for your hearing also safeguards your financial well being.
Preserving Your Hearing And Your Health
Hearing loss is a perfectly typical part of the aging process, although it’s not exclusive to aging. Because of accidents, occupational hazards, and disease, hearing loss can develop regardless of how old you are.
However or whenever you lose your hearing, it’s really important to have it checked. Otherwise, your health could be negatively impacted.