We’re learning more and more just how crucial having a healthy and balanced diet is to basically every aspect of our health, and that includes our hearing health. Research indicates that a healthy diet may decrease your risk of developing hearing loss.
Research Shows Healthy Diet Benefits Hearing Health
A study published in 2020 examined the diets of 3,135 women over a period of three years and compared scores on pure-tone audiometry tests. They found that women who reported eating healthier diets had lower rates of hearing loss than those that regularly consumed less healthy foods.
For the purposes of this study, healthy diets included those that were high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fish and lean meat and low on things like sugar and salt.
How Can Your Diet Play a Role in Hearing Loss?
Hearing loss often develops when there is damage to the hair cells of the inner ear or the auditory nerve. Many things can cause this damage, including exposure to loud noise, some medications and certain genetic factors, among other things.
Heart disease and diabetes are two other factors that may increase your risk of developing hearing loss by impacting blood flow to your inner ear, permanently harming those hair cells. Eating a healthy diet can reduce your risk of high cholesterol and other factors that contribute to heart disease as well as prevent or help to manage diabetes.
How To Reduce Your Risk of Hearing Loss
While some factors that influence hearing loss are completely out of your control, it can be helpful to focus on the things you can do to prioritize your hearing health. These include:
- Eating a healthy diet. While everyone has slightly different dietary needs and preferences, make sure to pick out plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables when you go shopping at Daily Groceries Co-Op and avoid foods that are high in sugar or overly processed.
- Get regular physical activity. In addition to a healthy diet, regular physical activity, such as yoga or taking regular walks in any of Athens’s many parks, can help improve blood flow and reduce the risk of damage to your ears.
- Avoid loud noise when possible. Prolonged exposure to noise over 85 decibels can cause hearing loss. Wear hearing protection like earplugs when in loud environments like a rock concert or out hunting. This also means keeping the volume at a reasonable level on your headphones or earbuds if you like to listen to music while working out.
- Get a hearing test. If you are over 50, have a family history of hearing loss, work in a loud environment or have noticed changes in your hearing, schedule an appointment for a hearing test. This can help establish a baseline, and if any hearing loss is detected, your audiologist can treat it early with hearing aids or other assistive listening devices.
To learn more or to schedule an appointment with one of our experts, call Georgia Hearing Center at ENT of Athens today.