It’s always nice to have a little time to ourselves to rest and regenerate, however, everyone gets lonely every now and then. However, as we age, life changes often increase loneliness in our life. Retirement, the loss of a partner or family member, or mobility issues can increase loneliness and it can be more dangerous than you may first suspect. In fact, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that “Social isolation significantly increased a person’s risk of premature death from all causes, a risk that may rival those of smoking, obesity, and physical inactivity. Social isolation was associated with about a 50% increased risk of dementia. It’s important to do what we can to prevent loneliness as we age, and this includes treating hearing loss
The Risk of Hearing Loss as We Age
Another issue to look out for as we age in the prevention of loneliness is screening for hearing loss. As we get older the risk for age related hearing loss, technically called presbycusis, goes up exponentially. For those of those 60 and older one in four people have hearing loss, but within 5 years one in three struggles with the condition. For those 75 and older one in two have hearing loss! We collect sound with our ears, but hearing happens in our brain. Sound is transferred from our ears to our brain via tiny hair like cells called stereocilia. While hearing isn’t a normal part of aging, our cells throughout our whole body, are at a higher risk for damage, due to comorbidities such as heart disease, hypertension diabetes, or even a lifetime buildup of unsafe listening practices.
Presbycusis and Loneliness
Hearing loss is commonly underdiagnosed and untreated. This is in part because it develops slowly over many years, so it often slips under the radar. However, even undiagnosed, it can have a devastating effect not only on hearing but an individual’s mental state. Hearing loss is a communication issue, and as people struggle to fill in parts of words and sentences in conversation it becomes increasingly more difficult for people to socialize. Rifts in existing relationships are incredibly common and still the root cause of hearing loss is rarely identified. In addition, social situations which used to give people energy, become sources of stress, anxiety, and exhaustion as they struggle to follow, often leaving gatherings or even one on one meetings feeling confused and out to the loop. The urge to self-isolate in common, contributing to chronic loneliness, depression, and anxiety.
The Effect of Loneliness on Your Overall Health
Connection isn’t just something that we crave as humans but is also essential to our health. Sure, we can be alone sometimes but interactions with other humans is important for our social and mental health. When we don’t have human love and connection in our lives it starts to manifest in physical ways. The release of cortisol, the bodies stress hormone is released regularly. This hormone is generally released when we are in fight or flight mode, giving us adrenaline to either flea or fight. However, in the case of chronic stress, cortisol can make it difficult for us to rest and can have grave consequences. This includes hypertension, Increased risk of heart disease or a stroke, diabetes and decreased immune system response
Treating Hearing Loss to Lessen Loneliness
Age related hearing loss is permanent, but that doesn’t mean it’s not treatable. The most common treatment for hearing loss is hearing aids. These tiny electronic devices sit in or around your ear canal and amplify the sounds you would otherwise struggle to hear. This can change the game when it comes to helping you connect to the people in your life. In just a short time it’s common that social interaction becomes less stressful and can even start to feel nourishing again. It takes time to rebuild rifts which grow over years due to undiagnosed and untreated hearing loss. The good news you now have the chance to start the process. Call up an old friend and catch up or rediscover what you love about the people closest to you, now that you have the power to hear better with hearing aids.
The first step is to contact us today and schedule a hearing exam!