You’ve most likely already recognized that your hearing is failing. Normally, we don’t even realize that our choices are negatively impacting our hearing.
Many types of hearing impairment are avoidable with several simple lifestyle changes. What follows are 6 secrets that will help you maintain your hearing.
1. Regulate Your Blood Pressure
Consistently high blood pressure is not good. A study found that hearing loss was 52% more likely with people who have higher than average blood pressure and they are more likely to have other health problems also.
Take actions to lower your blood pressure and prevent hearing damage. Don’t dismiss high blood pressure or wait to consult a doctor. Management of blood pressure includes proper diet, exercise, stress management, and following your doctor’s orders.
2. Stop Smoking
There are plenty of good reasons to quit smoking, here’s another: Hearing loss is 15% more likely to affect smokers. What’s even more alarming is that there’s a 28% higher chance of someone developing hearing problems if they are regularly subjected to second-hand smoke. Even if you leave the room, smoke lingers for long periods of time with harmful consequences.
If you’re a smoker, protect your hearing and think about quitting. Take steps to reduce your exposure to second-hand smoke if you hang out with a smoker.
3. Keep Your Diabetes in Check
Diabetes or pre-diabetes affects one in four adults. Unless they make some serious lifestyle changes, someone who is pre-diabetic will very likely get diabetes within 5 years.
Blood vessels that are damaged by high blood sugar don’t efficiently carry nutrients. A diabetic individual is more than twice as likely to experience hearing loss compared to a non-diabetic person.
If you suffer from diabetes, take the steps necessary to properly manage it. Safeguard your hearing by making lifestyle changes if you are at risk of type 2 diabetes.
4. Lose Some Weight
This isn’t about body image or feeling great about yourself. It’s about your health. As your Body Mass Index (BMI) rises, so does your risk of hearing loss and other health conditions. The risk of getting hearing loss increases by 17% for a slightly obese woman with a BMI of 30 to 34. A moderately obese person has a 25% risk of hearing loss if they have a BMI of 40.
Take measures to shed that excess weight. Your life can be prolonged and your hearing can be safeguarded by something as simple as walking for 30 minutes every day.
5. Don’t Overuse OTC Drugs
Some over-the-counter (OTC) medicines can result in hearing loss. The risk increases when these drugs are taken regularly over prolonged periods of time.
Drugs including acetaminophen, ibuprofen, naproxen, and aspirin are known to cause hearing loss. Take these drugs moderately and talk to your doctor if you’re using them on a regular basis.
Studies reveal that you’ll most likely be fine if you’re using these medications periodically in the recommended doses. Taking them on a daily basis, however, increases the risk of hearing loss by as much as 40% for men.
Always follow your doctor’s orders. But if you’re using these medicines every day to deal with chronic pain or thin your blood, speak with your doctor about lifestyle changes you can implement to lessen your dependence on OTC drugs.
6. Eat More Broccoli
Broccoli is packed with iron as well as important nutrients including vitamins C and K. Iron is essential to a healthy heart and strong blood circulation. Nutrients and oxygen are carried to your cells which helps keep them healthy and nourished and iron is a major part of this process.
If you’re a vegetarian or eat very little meat, it’s critical that you consume enough plant-based iron. The iron found in plants is not as bioavailable as the iron in meat so people in this group are more likely to be deficient in iron.
More than 300,000 individuals were studied by Pennsylvania State University. People who have anemia (severe iron deficiency) are twice as likely, according to this research, to experience sensorineural hearing loss than individuals who have normal iron concentrations. Age-related irreversible hearing loss is what the technical term “sensorineural hearing loss” refers to.
Sound is received and sent to the brain by tiny little hairs in the inner ear which vibrate with the volume and frequency of that sound. If these hair cells die as a result of poor circulation or other concerns related to iron deficiency, they never grow back.
You’re never too young to have your hearing tested, so don’t wait until it’s too late. Implement these steps into your life and prevent hearing loss.