You’ve most likely already recognized that your hearing is failing. Hearing loss often progresses as a result of decisions you make without recognizing they’re impacting your hearing.
Many types of hearing impairment are preventable with several simple lifestyle changes. Let’s explore six unexpected secrets that will help you preserve your hearing.
1. Regulate Your Blood Pressure
It’s not okay if your blood pressure stays high. A study found that people with higher than-average blood pressure are 52% more likely to develop hearing loss, not to mention other health problems.
Take actions to reduce your blood pressure and prevent hearing damage. Don’t ignore high blood pressure or wait to consult a doctor. Following your doctor’s advice, eating a healthy diet, managing stress, and exercising regularly are all parts of blood pressure management.
2. Stop Smoking
Here’s another reason to quit: Hearing loss is 15% more likely to affect smokers. What’s even more surprising is that there’s a 28% higher probability of someone experiencing hearing problems if they are regularly subjected to second-hand smoke. The hazardous consequences of second-hand smoke are not only harmful, they also hang in the air for long periods.
Think about protecting your hearing, if you smoke, by quitting. If you spend time with a smoker, take actions to minimize your exposure to second-hand smoke.
3. Keep Your Diabetes Under Control
Diabetes or pre-diabetes affects one in four adults. A pre-diabetic individual is extremely likely to develop diabetes within 5 years if they don’t make significant lifestyle changes.
High blood sugar harms blood vessels, which makes it very difficult for them to efficiently transport nutrients. Compared to a person who doesn’t have diabetes, a diabetic person has more than twice the chance of developing hearing loss.
If you have diabetes, safeguard your hearing by taking the correct steps to control it. If you are at risk of getting type 2 diabetes, safeguard your hearing by making lifestyle changes to avoid it.
4. Lose Some Weight
This is more about your health than feeling great about your body image. As your Body Mass Index (BMI) rises, so does your risk of hearing loss and other health disorders. The risk of getting hearing loss rises by 17% for a mildly obese woman with a BMI of 30 to 34. For a person with a BMI of 40 (moderate obesity), the risk goes up to 25%.
Take steps to shed that excess weight. Your life can be prolonged and your hearing can be safeguarded by something as basic as walking for 30 minutes each day.
5. Don’t Overuse OTC Drugs
Hearing impairment can be the outcome of some over-the-counter (OTC) medications. The more frequently these medications are used over a long period of time, the greater the risk.
Typical over-the-counter medicines that impact hearing include aspirin, NSAIDs (like naproxen, ibuprofen), and acetaminophen. Take these drugs in moderation and only with your doctor’s guidance if you need to take them more regularly.
Studies demonstrate that you’ll probably be okay if you’re using these medications periodically in the recommended doses. The danger of hearing loss increases up to 40% for men, however, when these medications are used on a daily basis.
Always follow your doctor’s recommendations. Your doctor may be able to suggest some lifestyle changes that will lessen your dependence on these drugs if you are taking them every day.
6. Eat More Broccoli
Broccoli is full of nutrients and vitamins such as C and K and also has lots of iron. Iron is essential to blood circulation and a healthy heart. Nutrients and oxygen are transported to your cells which helps keep them nourished and healthy and iron is a major part of this process.
For vegetarians or individuals who don’t eat meat very often, eating a sufficient amount of plant-based iron is important. You’re more likely to be iron deficient because the iron found in plants is less bioavailable than the iron found in meat.
Pennsylvania State University researchers studied over 300,000 individuals. People who suffer from anemia (extreme iron deficiency) are twice as likely, according to this research, to experience sensorineural hearing loss than individuals who have typical 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 fragile little hairs in the inner ear which resonate with the volume and frequency of that sound. If these hair cells die due to poor circulation or other complications related to iron deficiency, they won’t grow back.
Don’t wait to get a hearing exam because you’re never too young. Reduce hearing loss by using these simple secrets in your everyday life.