4 Ways Hearing Loss Might Affect Your General Health

Aging is one of the most typical indicators of hearing loss, and let’s face it, try as we may, we can’t escape aging. You can take some steps to look younger but you’re still aging. But you might not know that several treatable health conditions have also been related to hearing loss. Let’s have a look at a few examples that might surprise you.

1. Diabetes can impact your hearing

The fact that hearing loss and diabetes have a connection is fairly well understood. But why would you have a higher danger of experiencing hearing loss if you have diabetes? Well, science doesn’t provide all the solutions here. Diabetes has been known to harm the kidneys, eyes, and extremities. Blood vessels in the inner ear may, theoretically, be getting destroyed in a similar way. But overall health management could also be a consideration. A 2015 study discovered that people with neglected diabetes had worse outcomes than people who were treating and managing their diabetes. It’s significant to get your blood sugar tested if you think you may have overlooked diabetes or are prediabetic. By the same token, if you have trouble hearing, it’s a good plan to reach out to us.

2. Increased risk of falling associated with hearing loss

Why would having difficulty hearing cause a fall? Our sense of balance is, to some extent, managed by our ears. But there are other reasons why falls are more likely if you have hearing loss. Research was conducted on individuals with hearing loss who have recently had a fall. The study didn’t go into detail about the cause of the falls but it did speculate that missing essential sounds, like a car honking, could be a large part of the cause. But it might also go the other way, if difficulty hearing means you’re paying more attention to sounds than to your environment, it could be easy to trip and fall. The good news here is that treating hearing loss could potentially reduce your risk of having a fall.

3. Safeguard your hearing by managing high blood pressure

High blood pressure and hearing loss have been closely linked in some studies indicating that high blood pressure might accelerate hearing loss due to the aging process. Clearly, this is not the kind of reassuring news that makes your blood pressure drop. But it’s a link that’s been discovered pretty consistently, even when controlling for variables such as noise exposure and whether you’re a smoker. (You should never smoke!) Gender seems to be the only significant variable: The connection between hearing loss and high blood pressure is even stronger if you’re a male.

Your ears have a close relation to your circulatory system. Two of your body’s primary arteries run right near your ears and it contains many tiny blood vessels. This is one reason why people who have high blood pressure frequently suffer from tinnitus, the pulsing they’re hearing is actually their own blood pumping. That’s why this kind of tinnitus is known as pulsatile tinnitus; you hear your pulse. But high blood pressure could also possibly result in physical harm to your ears, that’s the main theory as to why it would speed up hearing loss. Every beat of your heart will have more pressure if it’s pumping blood harder. That could possibly harm the smaller blood arteries inside of your ears. Through medical intervention and lifestyle change, it is possible to manage high blood pressure. But if you suspect you’re experiencing hearing loss, even if you feel like you’re too young for the age-related stuff, it’s a good idea to speak with us.

4. Dementia and hearing loss

Even though a strong connection between cognitive decline and hearing loss has been well established, scientists are still not altogether certain what the link is. The most prevalent theory is that people with neglected hearing loss tend to withdraw from social interaction and become debilitated by lack of stimulus. Another theory is that hearing loss taxes your brain. When your brain is working extra hard to process sound, there might not be much brainpower left for things like memory. Maintaining social ties and doing crosswords or “brain games” could be beneficial, but so can treating hearing loss. If you’re able to hear well, social scenarios are easier to deal with, and you’ll be able to focus on the essential stuff instead of attempting to figure out what somebody just said.

Make an appointment with us as soon as possible if you think you may be experiencing hearing loss.

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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3889339/