Much like graying hair and reading glasses, hearing loss is just one of those things that many people accept as a part of growing old. But a study from Duke-NUS Medical School shows a connection between hearing loss and general health in older adults.

Senior citizens with hearing or vision loss commonly struggle more with cognitive decline, depression, and communication troubles. You might have already read about that. But did you realize that hearing loss is also linked to shorter life expectancy?

People with untreated hearing loss, according to this research, may actually have a reduced lifespan. In addition, they discovered that if untreated hearing loss occurred with vision impairments it almost doubles the probability that they will have a hard time with activities necessary for day-to-day living. It’s both a physical problem and a quality of life issue.

While this may sound like bad news, there is a positive spin: hearing loss, for older adults, can be managed through a variety of methods. Even more importantly, getting tested can help expose major health issues and spark you to pay more attention to staying healthy, which will improve your life expectancy.

Why is Weak Health Linked With Hearing Loss?

Research certainly shows a link but the exact cause and effect isn’t well known.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins note that seniors with hearing loss had a tendency to have other problems, {such assuch as} high rates of smoking, greater chance of heart disease, and stroke.

These results make sense when you understand more about the causes of hearing loss. Countless cases of tinnitus and hearing loss are linked to heart disease since the blood vessels in the ear canal are impacted by high blood pressure. When you have shrunken blood vessels – which can be brought on by smoking – the body’s blood needs to push harder to keep the ears (and everything else) working which brings about higher blood pressure. Older adults who have heart conditions and hearing loss frequently experience a whooshing sound in their ears, which is usually caused by high blood pressure.

Hearing loss has also been linked to dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and other types of cognitive decline. There are a number of reasons for the two to be linked according to health professionals and hearing experts: for starters, the brain has to work overtime to differentiate words in a conversation, which saps out the brain’s ability to do anything else. In other circumstances, difficulty communicating causes people with hearing loss to socialize less. This social isolation leads to anxiety and depression, which can have a major impact on a person’s mental health.

How Older Adults Can Manage Hearing Loss

There are several options available to deal with hearing loss in older adults, but as is revealed by research, it is best to tackle these issues early before they affect your total health.

Hearing aids are one form of treatment that can work wonders in combating your hearing loss. There are small discreet models of hearing aids that are Bluetooth ready and an assortment of other options are also available. Additionally, hearing aid technology has been enhancing basic quality-of-life issues. For example, they let you hear better during your entertainment by allowing you to connect to your phone, computer, or TV and they block out background noise better than older models.

So that you can prevent further hearing loss, older adults can consult their doctor or a nutritionist about positive dietary changes. There are connections between iron deficiency anemia and hearing loss, for example, which can often be treated by adding more iron into your diet. Changes to your diet could also positively impact other health issues, resulting in an overall more healthy lifestyle.

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