Everyone loves the idea of a miracle cure that helps increase your lifespan. In fact, a quick internet search will probably return thousands of such miracle cures (if not more), each promising to help you live longer if you employ one simple trick. The healthcare community doesn’t endorse most of these alleged cures as they have no real medical basis.
Nonetheless, that doesn’t mean that nothing you do can positively impact your lifespan. For example, eating a healthy diet (particularly one low in sodium and saturated fats) or quitting smoking can substantially affect your expected lifespan.
The same is true of treating hearing loss by wearing hearing aids. That’s in line with recent research published in The Lancet Healthy Longevity, a multidisciplinary publication committed to healthy aging. So, can hearing aids help you have a longer life? According to this study, it’s a distinct possibility.
Is hearing loss a health threat?
The connection between your hearing health and your overall wellness is not necessarily new to researchers. The fact that untreated hearing loss can substantially increase your risk of experiencing dementia is well founded, for instance.
These risks, however, are largely unknown by most individuals. They think that hearing loss will only affect one facet of their lives and is a mere inconvenience. But the truth is that hearing loss is more than a simple annoyance, particularly when left untreated.
The connection between lifespan and hearing loss
In most instances, treatment for hearing loss involves wearing hearing aids as often as possible. So does this mean that you can decrease your risk of early death by using hearing aids? There is a definite possibility, according to this latest research, that hearing aids can decrease your risk of early death. The study found that regular hearing aid use was connected to a 24% decrease in mortality risk. In other words, the individuals observed in the study who used hearing aids had a tendency to live longer.
The advantages of hearing aids
The research published in The Lancet Healthy Longevity isn’t necessarily conclusive proof that hearing aids will help you have a longer life (although the study does strongly indicate a relationship). But we already have a large body of evidence about the many advantages of using hearing aids and this just adds to that body.
- You can prevent accidents and injuries by being more aware of your environment.
- It will be easier to function in social situations. This will help your overall well-being by decreasing your feelings of social separation.
- Wearing your hearing aids can help improve cognition. This means that you (and your brain) will likely be less tired and healthier over time.
- Hearing aids can help you enjoy day-to-day moments with friends and family, from going out to lunch with colleagues to asking your grandchildren about their school day.
Whenever you wear your hearing aids, you will feel these improvements to your life. For these reasons alone, hearing aids are a significant part of treating your hearing loss.
Hearing is an essential part of your health and wellness
The more we discover about the relationships between hearing loss and the rest of your body, the more scientists have come to understand that your hearing is an extremely important part of your overall health and wellness. Your risk of early mortality can be diminished by treating any hearing loss you may have with hearing aids.
If you think that you might have some amount of hearing loss, it’s time to contact us for a consultation.
