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There is so much to stay on top of in life. You pay your bills on time, maintain your home appliances, and keep up with work, but there may be something important you are forgetting.
Taking care of our bodies is essential to our overall health, happiness, and wellbeing. As humans, our bodies are miraculous and complex. It’s a wonder they run as they do, but if you don’t attend to your physical health, it will catch up with you. It’s hard to account for every health aspect but that is what your doctor is for. A regular checkup can monitor your vitals, the health of your blood and scan for anything that could go wrong. It’s recommended that adults over 50 attend a regular physical annually but it is never too soon to start. It doesn’t mean you are ill – it just means you are taking preventative measures. However, there is one aspect of a physical checkup that is often overlooked – your hearing.
What’s Included in a Physical
If you see the same doctor each year, then your physician already knows about your health history. They will check your vital signs such as blood pressure, heart rate, and respiratory rate. Your doctor will examine your eyes, ears, nose, throat, chest, abdomen, and nervous system functions to ensure everything is running optimally. However, only about 30% of adults say they had a hearing assessment as part of their regular physical.
Why You Should Talk About Hearing at Your Next Physical
For each area of the body, there are specialists which focus on the details of this. This includes the ears. An audiologist specializes in hearing health. We test your hearing to make diagnose hearing ability, but we do much more. We will also interview you about your lifestyle, family history, listening practices, work, and more to better understand what factors could be affecting your hearing. In addition, we can also thoroughly examine your inner ear, diagnose any physical issues, treat infections, earwax impactions, and more.
While a preliminary examination is standard for an annual physical it is seldom that doctors recommend visiting an audiologist but that is a dangerous mistake. Even if you don’t feel like you have any hearing loss at all, that doesn’t mean none is present. Most often it takes a person 7 to 10 years from the time they first suspect they have a hearing issue to even ask for health. A decade is a long time to go with undiagnosed hearing loss – especially as many side effects of hearing loss are irreversible.
Side Effects of Unaddressed Hearing Loss
While hearing loss is an issue that begins in the ears, its effects on communication and awareness of the environment are far-reaching. It’s common for a person who doesn’t know they have hearing loss to score lower on cognitive tests than peers with normal hearing. Over time, as hearing loss progresses it increases the risk of developing dementia significantly. Even a mild case of hearing loss doubles the risk but a moderate case triples it and a severe case creates a five-fold risk.
Beyond the risk to your cognition, hearing loss affects your relationships at home, with friends, and with co-workers. It is common for people with undiagnosed hearing loss to grow further apart from each other without even fully understanding why. In the place of healthy relationships often comes depression, anxiety, loneliness, and low self-esteem. This makes many with hearing loss less likely to try new things, stay active, and fully enjoy life to its fullest.
Ask About Your Hearing
So, the next time you go in for a checkup asks about hearing. One in three people over 65 suffer from hearing issues and this number rises to one in two past the age of 75. Even if you haven’t reached this life stage, being preemptive can save you a lot of emotional and physical health issues later down the road.
Whether or not your primary care provider gives you a hearing test, we’re here to help! If you are ready to address your hearing health, contact us today.