Your body and an ecosystem are similar in some ways. In nature, if something happens to the pond, all of the fish and birds suffer the consequences; and all of the animals and plants that depend on the birds will disappear if the birds disappear. The human body, commonly unbeknownst to us, operates on very comparable principles of interconnection. That’s why something that seems to be isolated, such as hearing loss, can be linked to a large number of other diseases and ailments.
This is, in a sense, evidence of the interdependence of your body and it’s similarity to an ecosystem. Your brain may also be impacted if something affects your hearing. These situations are known as comorbid, a name that is specialized and indicates when two conditions affect each other but don’t always have a cause and effect relationship.
The conditions that are comorbid with hearing loss can give us lots of information about our bodies’ ecosystems.
Hearing Loss And The Disorders That Are Related to it
So, let’s suppose that you’ve been noticing the signs of hearing loss for the last couple of months. You’ve been having a difficult time hearing what people are saying when you go out to eat. Your television’s volume is constantly getting louder. And certain sounds just seem a bit further away. At this point, the majority of people will make an appointment with a hearing specialist (this is the practical thing to do, actually).
Whether you recognize it or not, your hearing loss is linked to several other health issues. Some of the health conditions that have reported comorbidity with hearing loss include:
- Depression: social isolation brought on by hearing loss can cause a whole range of concerns, many of which relate to your mental health. So depression and anxiety, not surprisingly, have been shown in several studies, to have a high rate of comorbidity with hearing loss.
- Cardiovascular disease: sometimes hearing loss has nothing to do with cardiovascular disease. But at times hearing loss can be intensified by cardiovascular disease. The reason for this is that trauma to the blood vessels of the inner ear is one of the first symptoms of cardiovascular disease. As that trauma escalates, your hearing may suffer as an outcome.
- Vertigo and falls: your inner ear is your primary tool for balance. Vertigo and dizziness can be caused by some types of hearing loss because they have a damaging affect on the inner ear. Any loss of balance can, naturally, cause falls, and as you get older, falls will become significantly more dangerous.
- Diabetes: likewise, your entire nervous system can be negatively influenced by diabetes (particularly in your extremities). the nerves in the ear are especially likely to be damaged. Hearing loss can be wholly caused by this damage. But diabetes-related nerve damage can also make you more susceptible to hearing loss caused by other factors, often adding to your symptoms.
- Dementia: a higher risk of dementia has been associated with hearing loss, although the root cause of that relationship is not clear. Many of these incidents of dementia and also cognitive decline can be reduced, according to research, by using hearing aids.
Is There Anything That You Can do?
When you stack all of those connected health conditions added together, it can look a bit intimidating. But it’s important to keep one thing in mind: enormous positive affect can be gained by dealing with your hearing loss. Researchers and scientists understand that if hearing loss is addressed, the chance of dementia dramatically lowers even though they don’t really know precisely why dementia and hearing loss manifest together in the first place.
So the best course of action, regardless of what comorbid condition you may be worried about, is to have your hearing checked.
Part of an Ecosystem
This is why health care professionals are reconsidering the importance of how to treat hearing loss. Instead of being a rather limited and targeted area of concern, your ears are viewed as closely linked to your general wellness. In a nutshell, we’re beginning to perceive the body more like an interconnected environment. Hearing loss doesn’t necessarily happen in isolation. So it’s significant to pay attention to your health as a whole.