What You Can Do to Slow Down the Process of Age-Related Hearing Loss

As you age, there are aspects of your body that just wear down; chances are, you were more than aware of that already. When you age, your bones become more brittle, you get more backaches, you snore, your vision slowly begins to get worse, and the same can be said about your hearing too. As you age, you already need to focus on your home being more accessible since your body and mind are going through so many changes, but so many people forget about their hearing, or they think, “I’m going to lose my hearing anyways,” but you shouldn’t think of it like that. 

Sure, age-related hearing loss is a pretty common and often inevitable part of aging. However, there are several proactive measures you can take to slow down the progression of age-related hearing loss and maintain better hearing well into your golden years.  So, what are these? Well, keep reading on to find out!

You Need to First Understand Why Age-Related Hearing Loss Happens

To a degree, it is true that it’s inevitable, but the whole goal is to ensure that your hearing stays healthy so you can push age-related hearing loss happening later on in your life. Age-related hearing loss typically occurs gradually over time and is influenced by various factors, including genetics, noise exposure, and overall health. It often affects high-frequency sounds and can make it challenging to understand conversations, especially in noisy environments. One thing you need to keep in mind is that those with hearing loss will eventually become less confident, from low self-esteem, and will even become isolated because they’re struggling to hear. 

Your quality of life can honestly take a nose dive. While you can’t really do much when it comes to genetics, you can still at least focus on slowing down the hearing loss by making healthier choices on your part. 

Keep Your Ears Protected

One of the most significant contributors to age-related hearing loss is exposure to loud noises. In general, when it comes to hearing loss and other side effects, such as tinnitus, it is usually due to loud sounds. If you’re often in an environment that’s loud, such as working in construction or something like a factory, then you will absolutely need to protect your ears; the same can be said for lifestyle-oriented events such as going out to a bar, weddings, night club, car races, air shows, or even concerts. 

All of these are pretty loud, and you’ll still need hearing protection then, too. You’ll need to wear some sort of ear protector such as ear muffs, ear plugs, or some type of noise-canceling headphones.

Limit Volume

If you watch a lot of shows, movies, videos, or even listen to music, how’s the volume? When listening to music through headphones or earbuds, keep the volume at a moderate level. Avoid turning up the volume to drown out external noise. If you’re the type that blasts music in your headphones due to background noise, then it’s best to look into some high-quality noise-canceling headphones; that way, the noises are muffled so you can enjoy listening to whatever it is you’re listening to. 

Consider Hearing Aids

So, there might even be a chance you may need hearing aids. So, wearing them doesn’t immediately mean you have a bad hearing; these can help with your hearing, and sometimes these can even be temporary, such as those with tinnitus. While yes, there’s the whole hearing aid fitting process, this is really beneficial, especially given the fact that these can absolutely help slow down age-related hearing loss. 

Stop Smoking

If you happen to be a smoker, then it’s best to consider putting a stop to this in the name of your health. In general, there’s nothing but benefits when you quit smoking, so your overall health and even your mental health would do way better. 

Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle

As mentioned above, it’d be a good idea to quit smoking, but in general, you’re way better off having a better lifestyle, too. Just think about it: a healthy lifestyle may be a physical and mental challenge, but you’re going to feel incredible in the whole process though. It’s all pretty obvious, but doing the standard things like regular physical activity can improve blood flow to the ears and promote overall health, which can help protect your hearing. 

If you have chronic health conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure, then you need to know that these can contribute to hearing loss. But for the most part, you can easily manage these conditions through a healthy diet, exercise, and medications as prescribed by your doctor.  Sure, it’s a lot of work, but these are things that, technically, everyone should be doing to improve their overall health in the first place. 

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