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Hearing loss is a medical condition that snatches away the ability of a person to hear sounds. In our daily life, we depend upon our hearing ability a lot. From waking up to sleep with the sound of an alarm clock to going to sleep with noise, we rely on sound. When conditions like hearing loss occur, our life gets significantly difficult. AQs hearing loss is often an irreversible condition; we can only try to minimize the impacts of getting it worse. Our cognitive abilities take a certain hit with the hearing loss condition. In this article, we are going to discuss various steps that you can take to minimize the impacts of hearing loss and make your cognition better.
Regularly Use Your Hearing Aid
Whenever a person is diagnosed with hearing loss, the first and foremost thing they are prescribed is a hearing aid. Hearing aids are excellent devices that can take care of your remaining hearing health and can even restore in some cases. When you are using a hearing aid, your hearing health will thank you for it. The hearing aid boosts the sound waves to help your brain listen to them. If you keep your hearing loss untreated, the portion of your brain that processes auditory signals can get reassigned or even demolished. In such cases, you will completely lose your hearing ability and even can develop symptoms like dementia.
Additionally, not only your hearing benefits from a hearing aid but also your overall health gains the benefit. Research has shown certain promises that people who wear hearing aids regularly have gained added health benefits. People with hearing loss, who don’t use a hearing aid, put in certain efforts to hear something around them. When they start to use a hearing aid, they can redirect their efforts to many other important tasks. Moreover, hearing loss can make a person get isolated from his surroundings. This can very well affect his mental health very badly. In recent years, there has been convincing evidence of depression associated with hearing loss. Untreated hearing loss can cause anxiety, anger management issues, and social isolation as well. Thus, using a hearing aid can pave your path to the betterment of your cognition.
However, hearing aids can be fairly expensive. You’ll have to find the most affordable hearing aids for you.
Exercising
Hearing loss is mainly caused by the damage in the hair cells that are situated in your inner ear. According to hearing health professionals, exercising increases blood flow in the inner ear. With a good blood flow, the hair cells in the inner ear are able to keep good health. These hair cells receive the sound signals and transport them to your brain. They don’t regenerate, so when they are damaged, your hearing is also damaged permanently.
Even the most simple exercise can increase blood flow in your inner ear. You can incorporate walking, hiking, or even gardening to get your exercise done. The American Heart Association recommends at least thirty minutes of moderate exercising each day five times a week to get elevated blood flow. You can even break up the thirty minutes to two fifteen minutes sessions or three ten minutes sessions if you like.
Quit Smoking
The nicotine and carbon monoxide in the cigarettes can tighten your blood vessels and disrupt blood flow and oxygen in your inner ear. So, if you are looking for an excellent reason to stop smoking, this can be your cause. According to a research team from the University of Manchester in the UK, smokers are 28 percent more likely to develop hearing loss than non-smokers. Nicotine can affect the neurotransmitters residing in the auditory nerve as well to prevent them process sounds correctly.
Luckily, the sooner you quit your smoking habit, the sooner healing occurs in your body. Your lungs start healing themselves as soon as you stop inhaling smoke. It can also be highly beneficial to reduce the risk of heart disease, lung cancer, and early death from smoking-related deaths. As soon as your hearing health recovers, your cognition starts to get better as well. So, for a healthy life as well as better cognition, you have no alternative but to quit smoking.
Other than the above-mentioned activities, you can also increase your cognitive functions by therapy and picking up new skills. The more you keep your brain busy, the better cognition you can achieve. The hearing loss certainly is a glaring risk for your cognitive function. However, with proper help and good decisions, you can achieve a healthy life and better cognition. With a good cognition system, diseases like Alzheimer’s, dementia keep you away from you. So, for achieving the best active life and coping with hearing loss, use your device accordingly, exercise, and avoid harmful substances. Otherwise, you can only dream about sound health without making it a reality.
