Feel like you may be forgetting something important? It’s not your imagination. It really is becoming harder to remember things in daily life. Memory loss seems to develop fairly quickly once it’s noticed. It becomes more incapacitating the more aware of it you become. Did you know memory loss is linked to hearing loss?
If you think that this is just a normal part of the aging process, you would be wrong. Losing the ability to process memories always has a root cause.
Neglected hearing loss is often that reason. Is your memory being impacted by hearing loss? You can slow the development of memory loss significantly and possibly even get some back if you know the cause.
Here are some facts to think about.
How neglected hearing loss can result in memory loss
There is a link. Cognitive issues, like Alzheimer’s and memory loss, were 24% more likely in individuals who suffer from hearing loss.
There are complicated interrelated reasons for this.
Mental exhaustion
Initially, the brain will need to work overtime to compensate for hearing loss. Listening to things takes extra effort. While this came naturally before, it’s now something your brain needs to strain to process.
You begin to use your deductive reasoning skills. You attempt to figure out what people probably said by eliminating unlikely possibilities.
Your brain is under extra strain as a result. It’s particularly stressful when your deductive reasoning skills let you down. The outcome of this can be misunderstandings, embarrassment, and sometimes even bitterness.
How we process memory can be seriously impacted by stress. Mental resources that we should be utilizing for memory get tied up when we’re experiencing stress.
As the hearing loss worsens, something new happens.
Feeling older
This stress of having to work harder to hear and needing people to repeat themselves makes a person “feel older” than they are. This can start a downhill spiral in which ideas of “getting old” when you’re actually not become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Social solitude
We’re all familiar with that story of a person whose loneliness causes them to lose touch with the world around them. Human beings are meant to be social. Even people who are introverted have difficulty when they’re never with others.
A person with disregarded hearing loss slowly becomes secluded. It’s more difficult to talk on the phone. Social get-togethers are less enjoyable because you have to ask people to repeat themselves. Friends and family begin to exclude you from discussions. You might be off in space feeling separated even when you’re in a room full of people. Eventually, you might not even have the radio to keep you company.
Being alone just seems easier. You feel as if you can’t relate to your friends now because you feel older than them even though you’re not.
This frequent lack of mental stimulation makes it more difficult for the brain to process new information.
Brain atrophy
A chain reaction commences in the brain when a person begins to physically or mentally seclude themselves. Parts of the brain are no longer being stimulated. When this takes place, those parts of the brain atrophy and stop working.
There’s a high degree of interconnectivity between the various parts of the brain. Hearing is linked to speech, memory, learning, problem-solving, and other skills.
There will usually be a slow spread of this functional atrophy to other brain activity, like hearing, which is also linked to memory.
It’s analogous to how the legs become atrophied when a person is bedridden for a long time. When they’re sick in bed for a long time, leg muscles become really weak. They could possibly just stop working completely. They might have to have physical therapy to learn to walk again.
But with the brain, this damage is much more difficult to rehabilitate. Shrinkage actually happens to the brain. Doctors can see this on brain scans.
How a hearing aid can stop memory loss
You’re probably still in the early stages of hearing loss if you’re reading this. It might be hardly noticeable. The good news is that it’s not the hearing loss that leads to memory loss.
It’s the fact that the hearing loss is neglected.
In these studies, those who were wearing their hearing aids regularly were no more likely to have memory loss than someone around the same age who has healthy hearing. People who started wearing hearing aids after symptoms began were able to slow the progression significantly.
Stay connected and active as you get older. If you want to keep your memory intact you need to recognize that it’s closely related to hearing loss. Pay attention to the health of your hearing. Get your hearing checked. And consult us about a solution if you’re not using your hearing aid for some reason.
