Your hearing can get worse as you age – here's how to protect it
For most people, your hearing gradually deteriorates with age, and about half of the time it's caused by genetics that are out of your control.
But years of regularly attending room-rumbling concerts, for instance, can exacerbate hearing loss, and you might find yourself straining to hear movies or struggling to follow group conversations.
'When we're young, we think nothing can ever threaten us,' said Dr Howard W Francis, a professor of otolaryngology at the Duke University School of Medicine. But 55 per cent of US adults have disabling hearing loss when they're 75 and older. And if hearing loss goes untreated, it can raise your risk of developing conditions like dementia and depression.
Fortunately, there are steps you can take to protect your ears. Here's what experts suggest you do – and what you should avoid.
DO: BE MINDFUL OF LOUD SOUNDS
Other than ageing, exposure to loud noises is the most common cause of hearing loss. And the longer you're exposed, the more likely it is that your hearing will be damaged, said Dr Dunia Abdul-Aziz, a board-certified otolaryngologist at Harvard Medical School.
Hearing an extremely loud sound, such as an explosion, even once can cause permanent hearing damage. But hearing loss is more often the result of 'cumulative exposure that you'll notice later on in life,' Dr Abdul-Aziz added.
Concerts are an obvious culprit, but you can also lose hearing after years of watching fireworks, operating loud machinery, attending music-blasting exercise classes or using your headphones at full volume.
Repeated exposure to sounds around 85 decibels (like the sound of a power tool) can potentially damage your hearing, according to the O ccupational Safety and Health Administration. Loud sounds can damage the tiny hair cells in the inner ear that translate sound into electrical signals the brain can understand. Once those hairs are damaged, they won't grow back, experts said.
It can be difficult to tell whether your environment is noisy enough to cause damage, but there are signs to watch for: If you need to shout to speak to someone a few feet away, your hearing is probably at risk, according to OSHA. Many smartphones and watches can also alert you if your surroundings reach potentially harmful volumes, said Patricia Gaffney, president of the American Academy of Audiology. The same goes for the volume of music in your headphones.
If noisy environments contribute to the ambience of a space, you don't necessarily need to avoid them altogether. Instead, wear earplugs, Dr Abdul-Aziz said.
'It's the best thing you can do' to protect yourself, said Dr Nandini Govil, a paediatric otolaryngologist at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and Emory University.
DON'T: USE COTTON BUDS
You may be tempted to use cotton buds to scratch an itch or remove earwax. But resist the urge.
Skin cells in the ear are 'almost like a conveyor belt,' Dr Francis said; when new skin cells grow, dead cells migrate outward and carry earwax with them, he said. So cleaning your ears yourself usually isn't necessary, and using a cotton swab comes with risks.
These small wads of cotton can push wax into the ear and cause buildup, Dr Francis said. If a swab goes too far into your ear, it can puncture the eardrum and cause hearing loss, Dr Govil said. And in rare cases, the force from pushing the swab inside your ear can dislocate the tiny bones behind the eardrum that help transmit sound through the ear, Dr Abdul-Aziz said.
Pieces of cotton can also get stuck inside the ear and obstruct hearing, Dr Govil added.
If you still want to clean your ears, consider rubbing a warm washcloth along the outside without entering your ear canal, said Dr Frank Lin, a professor of otolaryngology at Johns Hopkins University. If you have buildup in your canal and don't have other ear problems, you can purchase over-the-counter earwax softener drops and flush the ear with warm water using a rubber bulb syringe, Dr Francis added.
DO: TEST YOUR HEARING
Just as you might get your blood pressure checked annually, consider testing your hearing at home or with a doctor regularly, too, Dr Lin said.
It's easy to feel blase about your hearing when it's a 'black box' you don't know anything about, he explained. But hearing tests give you a score. And when you crystallise your hearing into a number, 'it's very truth-telling,' he said. 'Numbers don't lie.'
The World Health Organization recommends adults ages 50 and older test every five years until they turn 64. Then, testing can increase to every one to three years.
DON'T: BRUSH OFF HEARING CHANGES
If you experience sudden hearing loss in one or both ears, treat it as a medical emergency and visit an otolaryngologist or audiologist within 72 hours, Dr Gaffney said.
Sudden hearing loss is often treated by administering 'a bunch of steroids,' she explained, but the longer you wait, the less effective they'll be.
'Some people think when they have a sudden hearing loss, 'Oh, I'll just wait it out and see if it gets better,'' Dr Gaffney said. But 'you're under a time clock.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNA
19 hours ago
- CNA
Longevity hacks for busy people: Which healthy behaviours pack the biggest benefits?
The fundamentals of healthy ageing are no big secret: Regular exercise, eating well, quality sleep and a robust social life can all help you live better for longer. But doing these things takes time – and when there's only so much time in the day, it's hard to know where to start. For one, experts say, don't model your habits after the longevity influencers, with their elaborate treatment schedules and strict regimens. People may be 'overeager to pile a tonne of different interventions onto themselves' and could end up discouraged when they can't stick to them, said Dudley Lamming, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies ageing. Setting aside just a few minutes a day for healthier habits can be enough to lower your mortality risk, said Dr Sara Espinoza, a director of the Diabetes and Aging Center at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles. And while some of the steps most likely to increase your life span are neither quick nor easy (for example, quitting smoking or cutting down on alcohol if you're a heavy drinker), small, consistent behavioural changes can also add up, said Linda Ercoli, a geriatric psychologist and interim director of the Longevity Center at UCLA. We asked experts to share which low-lift daily habits seem to impart the biggest longevity benefits, and how to determine which will work best for you. 1. PRIORITISE YOUR "WHY" If you're unsure how to prioritise longevity habits, start by assessing your family history and focus on behaviours that could help reduce your risk of diseases you're predisposed to, Dr Ercoli said. For instance, if you're prone to diabetes, consider modifying your diet and exercise regimen. Another strategy is to ask yourself why you want to stay healthy and identify habits that help you meet that goal, said Steven Kritchevsky, a professor of geroscience at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. If you want to continue staying active with your grandchildren, you might focus on fitness and agility; if you're an avid bridge or chess player, you may want to prioritise preventing cognitive decline. 2. BE REALISTIC AND FLEXIBLE Set approachable goals – whether it's cutting down on ultraprocessed foods, learning how to meditate or introducing a new exercise routine – and reassess them each week, said Nathan LeBrasseur, the director of the Robert and Arlene Kogod Center on Aging at the Mayo Clinic. And if you can't hit those targets, be cleareyed about why, he said: 'Is it really not that important to me? Is it just too hard? If so, what else can you do?' 3. DEDICATE 3 PER CENT OF YOUR DAY TO PHYSICAL ACTIVITY 'If you had to pick one thing to do,' it's exercise, said Dr Michael Fredericson, a sports medicine physiatrist and a co-director of the Stanford Center on Longevity. Exercise lowers your risk of cardiovascular, cognitive and metabolic disease, in addition to boosting mental health and improving sleep, so you get a big bang for your buck. You may need less exercise than you think: Studies suggest that even just 30 minutes of moderate physical activity a day – about 3 per cent of your waking hours – is enough to move the needle, Dr LeBrasseur said. And it doesn't need to be all at once. Three-to-four minute bursts of higher-intensity exercise – like push-ups, squats or climbing the stairs – over the course of the day can still lower your mortality risk, Dr Fredericson added. 4. GET OUT OF BED AT THE SAME TIME EACH MORNING Poor sleep can increase your risk for a host of diseases that shorten life expectancy, including obesity, diabetes, heart disease, depression and dementia. It can also slow your metabolism and make it harder to consistently exercise, undoing other healthy habits you may be practising, said Dr Zhaoping Li, the chief of the division of clinical nutrition at UCLA Health. Most people need about seven hours of uninterrupted sleep a night to reach the more restorative stages that allow the brain and body to heal from stress, said Sara Nowakowski, an associate professor at Baylor College of Medicine who studies sleep. One easy way to help you hit that target is to get up at roughly the same time each day, even if you're tired, Dr Nowakowski said. This forces your sleep hormones to operate on a consistent schedule, which can make it easier to fall asleep the following night. 'We're actually trying to build 'sleep pressure,' or this biological need to sleep,' Dr Nowakowski said. 5. PRACTISE AN EASY FORM OF MINDFULNESS Chronic stress, anxiety, depression and loneliness are all linked to a higher risk of age-related disease and earlier mortality. Even just a few minutes of consistent mindfulness or meditation, or a daily gratitude exercise, can train your nervous system to stay calm, even under pressure, Dr Ercoli said. 'These behaviours have a cumulative effect' on physical stress, and can even help lower blood pressure and cardiovascular risk long-term, she said. You can quickly boost your mental and physical well-being with an 'active noticing' exercise each day, said Ellen Langer, a professor of psychology at Harvard University who has written several books on mindfulness. Remaining in the moment is a way to stay mindful: Take a few minutes to notice three new things about a friend or co-worker, or walk outside and observe something new about your environment, she said. 'When you're more mindful, you find and look for multiple solutions to problems, and you're less frustrated,' Dr Langer said. 'Rather than trying to add more years to your life, it would be best to add more life to your years,' she added.
CNA
2 days ago
- CNA
That cup of coffee may have a surprising perk – a healthier, longer life
Most people who drink coffee appreciate the quick jolt of energy it provides. But in a new study, presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition, scientists have found that coffee may offer the much longer-term benefit of healthy ageing. The study has not been peer-reviewed or published, but it was rigorous and included a large number of women who were followed for many years. It also adds to a large body of evidence linking coffee to longer lives and various health advantages, including lower risks of certain chronic diseases – though all of these studies had limitations, including that they were observational and could not prove cause and effect. Still, the results linking coffee to healthier ageing were not surprising, said Fang Fang Zhang, a professor of nutritional epidemiology at Tufts University who was not involved with the study. 'The data is quite consistent that coffee consumption is actually beneficial,' she said. WHAT DID THE NEW RESEARCH FIND? In the study, researchers followed more than 47,000 female nurses for several decades beginning in the 1970s. Every few years, the women answered detailed questions about their diets, including how much coffee, tea and cola (like Coca-Cola or Pepsi) they typically drank. Then, the scientists looked at how many of the women were still alive and met their definition of 'healthy ageing' in 2016. Just over 3,700 women met that criteria: They were 70 or older; reported good physical and mental health, with no cognitive impairment or memory problems; and were free of 11 chronic diseases such as cancer, Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, kidney failure, Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis. The researchers found a correlation between how much caffeine the women typically drank (which was mostly from coffee) when they were between 45 and 60 years old and their likelihood of healthy ageing. After adjusting for other factors that could affect aging, such as their overall diet, how much they exercised and whether they smoked, those who consumed the most caffeine (equivalent to nearly seven eight-ounce cups of coffee per day) had odds of healthy ageing that were 13 per cent higher than those who consumed the least caffeine (equivalent to less than one cup per day). Drinking tea or decaffeinated coffee was not associated with healthy ageing, the researchers found. That may be because the study participants generally consumed less tea and decaffeinated coffee overall, so perhaps there were fewer chances for the researchers to find benefits linked to them, said Sara Mahdavi, an adjunct professor of nutritional sciences at the University of Toronto who led the study. Tea and decaf coffee also have less caffeine, and tea has different plant compounds from regular coffee, so that may explain the results, too, she added. Drinking cola, another potential source of caffeine, was associated with significantly decreased odds of healthy ageing. Dr Mahdavi cautioned that while drinking up to seven small cups of coffee per day was associated with healthy ageing in her study, that doesn't necessarily mean that drinking that much will benefit everyone, nor that it is healthy to do so. Research in other groups of people suggests that the health benefits of coffee may plateau or even dip when they drink more than three to four cups per day. WHAT DOES OTHER RESEARCH SUGGEST? Many other studies have linked drinking coffee regularly to a lower risk of early death. In a study of more than 46,000 US adults published in May, Dr Zhang and her colleagues found that those who consumed one to three cups of coffee per day were about 15 percent less likely to die within the next nine to 11 years than those who didn't drink coffee. That benefit disappeared, though, for people who said they typically added more than about a half teaspoon of sugar to their coffee and for people who added more than one gram of saturated fat (equivalent to about one tablespoon of half-and-half or 3.5 tablespoons of whole milk) per cup of coffee. Research has also suggested that people who drink coffee regularly have lower risks of heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, Parkinson's disease, liver disease, osteoporosis and some types of cancer. These kinds of studies can't prove cause and effect, said Aladdin Shadyab, an associate professor of public health and medicine at the University of California, San Diego. But because the benefits associated with coffee have been so consistent, it's unlikely that they are entirely explained by other aspects of a person's life, Dr Zhang said. If anything, drinking coffee is often associated with unhealthy habits, like smoking and less exercise. The fact that you see benefits after accounting for these differences means that coffee is probably helping, Dr Zhang said. HOW MIGHT COFFEE PROTECT YOUR HEALTH? Researchers aren't entirely sure why coffee may be beneficial. 'It's a bit of a mystery,' said Marilyn Cornelis, an associate professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine. Studies in mice have found that caffeine may improve memory and protect brain cells from damage. And human studies have found links between regular (not decaffeinated) coffee and a reduced risk of Parkinson's disease. Both regular and decaf coffee contain hundreds of chemical compounds, including many that may lower inflammation and prevent cell damage, Dr Mahdavi said. While the new study didn't find a benefit associated with decaf coffee, other research has linked it, along with regular coffee, to lower rates of Type 2 diabetes and other conditions, Dr Cornelis said. Tea also contains many beneficial compounds, and drinking it has been associated with better heart health and a longer life. WHAT'S THE TAKEAWAY? If you drink coffee regularly, consider the new findings and others like it as good news that it may benefit your health – so long as you don't add too much cream or sugar, Dr Zhang said. But if you don't enjoy coffee, Dr Mahdavi added, there's no need to start drinking it. It can interfere with sleep or make some people feel anxious or jittery.
CNA
2 days ago
- CNA
Want to get stronger and avoid injury? Try these eccentric exercises
In the gym, it can be tempting to focus on the showiest moves: The impressive deadlift, an explosive bench press. But to build strength and reduce your injury risk, how much you lift isn't the only thing that matters. Lowering a weight can do as much – if not more – for your health. Most movements consist of two phases. During a bicep curl, for example, your muscle shortens as you lift the weight and lengthens as you lower it. But if you don't spend enough time on the second part – called the eccentric phase – you're leaving significant strength and muscle gains on the table. LOWERING WEIGHT BUILDS STRENGTH… Within a muscle, the action of lowering a weight is fundamentally different from lifting it. For one, it feels easier. That's partly because you're working with gravity and partly because connective tissues play a bigger role in lightening the load. As a result, you need less energy and oxygen to handle the weight, said Brent Pekarski, a physical therapist with University Hospitals Drusinsky Sports Medicine Institute in Ohio. Studies suggest you can lower up to 40 per cent more than you can lift. But don't be fooled – your muscles are working harder than you may realise during eccentric movements. Christoph Handschin, who studies muscles at the University of Basel in Switzerland, described a workout session he had on an eccentric bike, which forces you to push against pedals that spin backward. 'It felt very easy, but the next day, I had sore muscles like crazy,' he said. That's because your muscles can produce more force extending than contracting. This makes it easier to progressively overload them, because you can increase the weight or repetitions of your workouts with less effort. Also, some experts say that when a muscle is stretched under tension, it signals different proteins and hormones in the body to grow more muscle. It's difficult to difficult to say exactly how much more, since experts look at different body regions and exercises. All told, 'eccentric training can lead to approximately 20 to 50 per cent greater strength gains,' said Lindsey Lepley, a kinesiologist at the University of Michigan. This 'more bang for your buck' feature can make eccentric movements ideal for older adults or people recovering from injury, who may struggle with a traditional resistance training routine, she added. 'If you can't do a pull-up, say, you can still work on your pull-up muscles by practisingjust the lowering down part, which is easier,' said Katy Bowman, a biomechanist and author of Move Your DNA. … AND IT CAN HELP PREVENT INJURY Like a pulled rubber band, muscles stretched under strain can lead to injury. But eccentric movement can help. Lowering a weight trains our muscles to lengthen with control and strengthens them over time, said Disa Hatfield, a professor of kinesiology at the University of Rhode Island. A meta-analysis with more than 1,200 football and Australian football players, for example, found that 10 weeks of lower body eccentric training resulted in 65 per cent fewer hamstring injuries during their seasons. And for people with existing tendinitis, research suggests that eccentric exercises can reduce pain and restore function more effectively than other interventions, like traditional resistance training or rest. But start slowly. Delayed onset muscle soreness is more common after exercises that lengthen a muscle, Dr Lepley said. Dr Hatfield recommends limiting eccentric-only training to two out of every eight to 10 weeks, to break out of workout plateaus, for example. After all, 'in sports and in everyday life, we rarely do half a movement,' said Alena Luciani, a strength and conditioning coach in Toronto. HOW TO GET STARTED 1. SLOW DOWN A simple way to start eccentric workouts is to just slow the lowering phase of an exercise you already do. 'Take a squat, for example: Count to three as you go from the top of the squat to the bottom, then come back up in one second,' Luciani said. Gradually increase the time you spend travelling down to six seconds. Similarly, you can take a few seconds to bring your chest to the ground in a push-up or to lower the dumbbell in a bicep curl. 2. USE ONE ARM OR ONE LEG To reap more benefits, however, you have to increase the weight you are lowering over time, said Dr Hatfield, who's also a former competitive powerlifter. Equipment like a leg press machine can help. Use both legs to push the weight up, then lower it down with one. Do three sets of eight to 10 reps and then switch legs. Similarly, on a seated cable row machine, pull the weight up with both arms, then slowly release the weight with one arm. Nordic hamstring curls can greatly reduce your risk of injury and don't require a machine. Start in a kneeling position with your feet anchored behind you (hook them under a couch or enlist a friend). With your arms at your sides and your knees on the ground, slowly lower your torso toward the floor, keeping your body straight. Push up with your arms to reset and repeat four more times. As your hamstrings get stronger, increase to three sets of eight to 10 reps. 4. COAST DOWNHILL Walking or running downhill is another great way to build strength in your legs. When your thighs lengthen while controlling your descent, they become better at quickly producing force. Add hills to your route or set your treadmill to a negative slope. To increase the challenge, steepen the slope or speed up.
