I'm often surprised how many people have hearing loss. John O'Connor, a fellow blogger, has some useful tips to help prevent hearing loss in his article below:
Reduce Noise
Noise is all around us but
for some people, noise is a particularly loud part of everyday life. This
includes those who work on construction sites, in gardening or with power tools
on a regular basis. The best practice is to reduce your exposure to loud noise
as much as possible, but if you cannot prevent exposure to the noise, wear
earplugs or earmuffs to reduce exposure.
Lower the Volume
Many people listen to their
music player, such as their iPod, for several hours a day, often at very high
volumes. However, listening to music at loud decibels can lead directly to
hearing loss. Keep the volume down enough so that you can hear conversations
around you. In addition, some iPhone or iPod players have a
“Volume Limit” selection under “settings” that allow you to limit the volume at
which the device may be set. This will help keep your music at a constant,
safer level.
Be Conscious of Your Weight
While you may not instantly
associate being overweight with hearing loss, the fact is that if you are
overweight, you are at increased risk for pre-diabetes and/or diabetes. Even
with pre-diabetes, your risk of hearing loss is more than 30 percent than those
without diabetes symptoms. Consult your doctor if you
suspect that you are overweight, obese and may have some of the first signs of
diabetes.
Make an Appointment
If you feel you are slowly
losing your hearing or are already affected by hearing loss, it would be smart
to make an appointment with an audiologist. An audiologist will be able
to run you through various tests in order to find your baseline hearing levels.
After determining where your hearing currently stands, they will be able
to provide you with tips to protect your hearing or depending on the severity
of your hearing loss, prescribe the use of hearing aids to help better your overall hearing.
Work It Out
There is an association
with a lack of cardiovascular health and hearing loss. Exercise two to three days
a week at least for an hour each time and make sure you are getting your heart
rate elevated, which will help make your heart healthy and strong.
Be Careful Cleaning Your
Ears
Cotton swabs are great for
applying or removing makeup but not for cleaning the wax out of your ears.
Earwax is a natural process that helps keep the ear clean and protected from
exterior debris and bacteria. If you clean it out using cotton swab, you may
actually push the wax in deeper, blocking the ear canal and resulting in
hearing loss.
Making some basic healthy
lifestyle choices will help you be happy and healthy and may even help you
prevent devastating hearing loss. Start making some smart changes today.
Thanks John!
