Take care of your hearing with these simple lifestyle changes.
Building good habits for your overall wellness has the happy side effect of helping your hearing too.
Here are some of the lifestyle choices that can help your overall health and your hearing:
- Exercising regularly
- Eating a balanced diet
- Getting quality sleep
- Avoiding excessive noise
Learn more about these lifestyle choices that help your hearing below.
Exercising regularly
Getting plenty of exercise is the closest thing humans have to a cure-all (or perhaps more like a “prevent-all”). It’s good for our brains, bones, muscles, immune systems, and, you guessed it, our hearing! Cardiovascular exercise promotes good blood flow, which your ears need to stay healthy. Exercise is especially important as we age. As little as 20-30 minutes of physical activity is enough to make a difference. Aim for five days a week and mix it up! Try brisk walking, bicycling, swimming, hiking, jogging, a video or app workout, or anything that gets your heart pumping. See our exercise tips for people with hearing loss.
Eating a balanced diet
A car without the right fuel will stall, and a body without the right foods won’t thrive. Different kinds of foods offer different benefits for us, like these foods that promote hearing health. Base your diet around fresh whole foods like fruits (e.g., bananas, oranges, avocados), vegetables (leafy greens, mushrooms), nuts and seeds, etc. Taking a multivitamin can help keep up your levels of other vital nutrients like B and D vitamins (but be sure to talk to your doctor before taking anything new). Read our tips for eating more fruits and veggies.
Getting quality sleep
Catch those z’s to help you hear the dBs! Sleep acts as a refresher for your brain. Specifically, people who get a healthy amount of sleep have higher temporal lobe activity—the area of the brain responsible for processing sound. Also, sleep deprivation can make your blood flow more sluggish, which can harm your inner ear. Getting enough sleep comes with other health benefits like a more robust immune system and increased energy and helps you keep your hearing in good shape. Learn tips for getting better sleep here!
Avoiding excessive noise
Loud noises are the most dangerous thing for your hearing. Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) and tinnitus are two of the issues triggered by exposure to loud sounds. In turn, these conditions can trigger feelings of isolation, anxiety, and depression, as physical and mental health are often intimately connected. See our article here on safe vs. dangerous decibel levels to help you determine what situations you should avoid (or at least when to wear proper hearing protection).
These four lifestyle choices can help your overall health as well as your hearing. For more tips on how to keep your physical and mental health in great shape, visit our blog. For people with hearing loss, CapTel’s line of captioned telephones can help your social life stay just as healthy!
