A healthy body equals healthy hearing!
It’s easier than you think to protect your hearing. Some healthy lifestyle changes and a bit more conscientiousness about loud noise can dramatically reduce the risk of harming your ears.
Diabetes and Hearing Loss
Having a healthy body does wonders for your hearing. So what can you do to help ensure your ears are healthy too?
Studies have shown that people with diabetes have an increased risk of hearing loss. Diabetes can erode away keratin, an important protein which forms a protective layer within the ear canal. Without it we are at a much greater risk of hearing loss. Althought diabetes is not always preventable, moderate exercise and healthy eating can help protect against type two diabetes, along with many other lifestyle related diseases such as heart disease. A healthy regime has so many benefits for your heart, your mind and even your ears!
Cardiovascular disease and hearing loss
Maintaining a healthy lifestyle can also help guard against cardiovascular disease. There appears to be a link between an unhealthy heart and hearing problems, so there is an added incentive to looking after your heart.
Lifestyle choices
Smoking too has a huge impact on our ears. Smokers are 70 per cent more likely to suffer hearing loss. Second hand smoke can also cause ireversible damage with studies showing that adolescents exposed to second hand smoke double their risk of hearing loss.
Noise
Other lifestyle changes are easier to implement and can still help you avoid hearing loss. Over 90 per cent of young people in Australia use MP3 players and are listening to music twice as long as teens of previous generations and at higher volumes. Unfortunately they tend to underestimate how much noise they are exposing themselves to and in turn underestimate the damage they are doing. A recent Australian study proved that there was a 70 per cent increased risk of hearing loss associated with the use of headphones. So pop a volume limit on your iPod to ensure you don’t harm your ears!
Also try to avoid loud noises in the workplace and even during leisure time. If you are are around loud machinery or even loud musical instruments, you should be wearing hearing protection. Knox Audiology has a range of solutions for every lifestyle.
Remember, it’s easy to make positive changes to help your hearing, so get started today!