It’s easy to notice how your body ages over time. You develop wrinkles. Your hair turns gray (or falls out). Your knees start to hurt a little bit more. Your skin becomes a little droopy in places. Perhaps your eyesight and your hearing both start to fade a little. It’s pretty difficult not to see these changes.
But the affect getting older has on the mind is not always so evident. You might find that you are having to put significant events on the calendar because you’re having difficulty with your memory. Perhaps you miss significant events or forget what you were doing more frequently. But sadly, you may not even detect this gradual onset. And that hearing decline can be worsened by the psychological impact.
As you age, there are, luckily, some exercises you can do to help your brain remain sharp. And you might even have a little bit of fun!
What’s the link between hearing and mental cognition
Most people will gradually lose their hearing as they get older (for a wide variety of reasons). The risk of cognitive decline will then increase. So what is the connection between cognitive decline and hearing loss? There are several silent risk factors according to research.
- There can be atrophy of the part of the brain that processes sound when someone has neglected hearing loss. The brain may reallocate some resources, but overall, this isn’t very good for mental health.
- A feeling of social separation is often the consequence of neglected hearing loss. Because of this lack of social connection, you can begin to detect cognitive lapses as you disengage from the outside world.
- Mental health problems and depression can be the result of neglected hearing loss. And the corresponding risk of cognitive decline can be increased by these mental challenges.
So is dementia the outcome of hearing loss? Well, not directly. But neglected hearing loss can increase your risk of cognitive decline, up to and including dementia. Those risks, however, can be significantly decreased by getting hearing loss treated. And those risks can be reduced even more by improving your overall brain function or cognition. Think of it as a little bit of preventative medicine.
How to enhance cognitive function
So how do you accomplish giving your brain the workout it requires to strengthen cognitive function? Well, like any other part of your body, the amount and type of exercise you do go a long way. So here are some fun ways to exercise your brain and increase your sharpness.
Gardening
Growing your own vegetables and fruits is a delicious and gratifying hobby. A unique combination of deep thought and hard work, gardening can also increase your cognitive function. This happens for several reasons:
- You get a bit of moderate physical activity. Improved blood flow is good for your brain and blood flow will be improved by moving buckets around and digging in the soil.
- You need to think about what you’re doing when you’re doing it. You have to utilize planning skills, problem solving skills, and examine the situation. This gives your brain a great deal of great practice.
- Gardening releases serotonin which can ease the symptoms of anxiety and depression.
The reality that you get healthy fruits and vegetables out of your garden is an additional bonus. Of course, you can grow lots of other things besides food (herbs, flowers cacti).
Arts and crafts
You don’t need to be artistically inclined to take pleasure in arts and crafts. Something like a simple popsicle stick sculpture can be fun. Or maybe you can make a nice clay mug on a pottery wheel. With regard to exercising your brain, the medium matters a lot less than the process. That’s because arts and crafts (drawing, sculpting, building) tap into your imagination, your critical thinking skills, and your sense of aesthetics.
Arts and crafts can be good for your cognition because:
- It requires the use of fine motor skills. And while that may feel automatic, your brain and nervous system are truly doing a lot of work. That kind of exercise can keep your mental functions healthier over the long haul.
- You need to process sensory input in real time and you will need to employ your imagination to do that. This requires a great deal of brain power! There are a few activities that stimulate your imagination in just this way, so it offers a unique type of brain exercise.
- You have to think about what you’re doing while you do it. You can help your cognitive process stay clear and flexible by engaging in this kind of real time thinking.
Whether you pick up a paint-by-numbers kit or create your own original fine art piece, your level of talent doesn’t really matter. The most relevant thing is keeping your brain sharp by stimulating your imagination.
Swimming
There are a lot of ways that swimming can help you stay healthy. Plus, it’s always fun to hop into the pool (especially when it’s so sweltering hot outside). And while it’s obviously good for your physical health, there are some ways that swimming can also be good for your cognitive health.
Your brain has to be engaged in things like spatial awareness when you’re swimming in the pool. After all, you don’t want to collide with anyone else in the pool!
You also have to think about your rhythms. When will you need to come up to breathe when you’re under water? That sort of thing. Even if this kind of thinking is occurring in the background of your brain, it’s still very good cognitive exercise. And cognitive decline will progress more slowly when you get involved in physical exercise because it helps get more blood to the brain.
Meditation
Spending some silent solo time with your mind. Meditation can help settle your thoughts (and calm your sympathetic nervous system at the same time). These “mindfulness” meditation practices are designed to help you focus on your thinking. Meditation can help:
- Improve your attention span
- Help you learn better
- Improve your memory
In other words, meditation can help present you with even more awareness of your mental and cognitive faculties.
Reading
Reading is great for you! And even more than that, it’s fun. There’s that old adage: a book can take you anywhere. In a book, you can travel anywhere, such as outer space, the ancient world, or the bottom of the ocean. Think of all the brain power that goes into creating these imaginary landscapes, following a story, or conjuring characters. A big portion of your brain is involved when you’re reading. You’re forced to think a lot and utilize your imagination when you read.
Hence, one of the very best ways to improve the mind is reading. Imagination is needed to picture what’s going on, your memory to follow along with the plot, and when you complete the book, you get a rewarding dose of serotonin.
What you read doesn’t actually make a difference, fiction, non-fiction, science fiction, so long as you take a little time every day reading and building your brainpower! Audiobooks, for the record, work just as well!
Improve your cognition by getting your hearing loss managed
Even if you do every little thing right, untreated hearing loss can keep increasing your risks of cognitive decline. Which means, even if you swim and read and garden, you’ll still be struggling uphill, unless you manage your hearing loss.
Your social skills, your thinking, and your memory and cognition will get better once you have your hearing loss treated (normally with hearing aids).
Are you suffering from hearing loss? Reconnect your life by contacting us today for a hearing exam.