There are many ways to feel younger. However, one method of staying young that isn’t always mentioned is to protect your hearing.
Diet and exercise have been publicized for years as a proven way to extend your lifespan as well as improve your quality of life. It also helps prevent heart disease, and cancer and improves weight control. But hearing does just as much to keep you healthy and young.
Take a look at all the ways that hearing increases confidence, provides a better sex life and helps you stay young.
The benefits you’re not considering about hearing maintenance
1. Better sex
Seniors who have no hearing loss or wear hearing aids have a better social life. Thanks to that, they’re able to maintain better overall health and more independence. All of these things result in a surprisingly better sex life.
2. Better learning
Many people go back to school to stimulate their minds. If you’re in school, you will learn more and enjoy yourself much more if you can hear well. You won’t have to sit in the front and ask the instructor for repetition on every concept. You’ll understand instructions more readily and have more social interaction with other students.
3. More productive interactions
Those with hearing loss tend to become alienated from society. They allow their impairment to separate them from people and information. How can you communicate during your pickleball match if you have trouble hearing? It’s an easy problem to go unnoticed until you find you’re estranged from friends, relatives and co-workers. Better hearing leads to more confidence.
4. Increased blood flow
Exercising is helpful for many reasons, and one of them is better hearing. Increased blood flow helps feed the ears with nutrients that protect your hearing.
5. Increased confidence
Difficulty communicating leads to insecurity and lack of confidence. This lack of confidence may result in a reluctance to go to gatherings, parties, meetings and events. This behavior further isolates someone which creates a continuing cycle.
6. Better reaction time
Our senses trigger our instincts including reaction time to alerts or danger. With better hearing, you’ll react to fire alarms, sirens, and other alerts more quickly resulting in better safety for yourself and those around you.
7. Fewer hospital stays
Loss of hearing increases a senior’s risk of accidents, falls, and depression as well as inactivity. Depression and accidents are often reasons that seniors end up becoming hospitalized and they can contribute to other reasons for hospitalization.
8. Reduced risk of falling
Hearing loss also reduces spatial awareness and potentially leads to worse balance. Seniors who have lost just 25 decibels are 3X more likely to fall than those with no hearing loss. (Johns Hopkins Medicine)
9. Better job satisfaction
It makes sense that someone without hearing loss does better on the job. You may miss important information, safety precautions, or instructions. Not to mention the difficulty you had when trying to understand and keep up with your teammates during your last Zoom call. Participation is key to good job performance and evaluations.
10. Reduced onset of dementia
Hearing loss has been linked to the onset of dementia because of loss of mental stimulation and interaction. Dementia is caused in part by brain shrinkage which occurs as people age. Increased brain shrinkage leads to the increased potential for dementia.
