Hearing loss can sometimes be an indication of an underlying cardiovascular disease. Research shows that those with a heart problem have a 54% chance of having hearing loss as well. Keeping your hearing functioning optimally can also help protect your heart, and vice versa.
Take proactive steps to take good care of your hearing as well as cardiovascular health. Start by scheduling annual checkups with your primary care physician. If you suspect you may have hearing loss, make sure you schedule a hearing test to explore your treatment options before your condition worsens.
Exercise helps keep your heart and your ears fit! With the rise in junk-food culture and sedentary lifestyles, obesity is a major problem. Increased body weight can lead to major health problems such as diabetes, and even lead to fatal conditions such as a heart attack or stroke. Even a simple activity such as going for a walk for half an hour each day can help reduce the risk of a cardiovascular disease by around 16%. A healthy heart is far more capable of pumping oxygen-enriched blood to your ears, keeping your ears healthy as well.
Alcohol has a damaging effect on the ears since it adversely affects the auditory nerves. Even moderate drinkers place themselves at risk for brain damage that can reduce their ability to process sounds, which can result in hearing loss. This is why it is important to limit the amount of alcoholic drinks you consume.
Smoking already has a bad rap when it comes to the various health hazards associated with it. Not surprisingly, smoking is bad for your heart and is also harmful for your hearing. Sensorineural as well as conductive hearing loss can result from smoking due to the hindering effect nicotine has on your brain’s sound-processing capacity.
Another risk to your ears is more obvious; loud noise! If you spend extended periods of time in excessively loud environments, you put your ears at risk of hearing loss. Not only is loud noise bad for your ears, it can also adversely affect your heart!
A medical study conducted in 2015 found that those with high contact to noisy environments in their professional or recreational settings had a higher chance of developing cardiovascular disease. Those with hearing loss in the higher frequencies had double the likelihood of having some sort of cardiovascular disease, while those aged 50 years or younger had a quadruple chance of developing heart problems!
Hearing loss can easily be avoided if you engage in safe hearing practices. Always wear hearing protection before you expose yourself to excessively loud hearing environments. A healthy pair of ears not only helps you hear better, it can also help your heart. So the next time you attend your favorite sporting event, don’t forget your earplugs!