People who lose their hearing can suffer difficulties in memory and thinking, research has shown.
"The hearing aids are within the lower 5 percent of cognitive performance, and 50 percent of them are more likely to experience dementia," said Clever Ballard, a professor of age-related diseases at the University of Exeter.
Researchers at the University of Exeter analyzed cognitive abilities of 783 healthy middle-aged participants. More than half of the subjects were suffering from Alzheimer's disease. After four years of research, people with hearing disorders are more likely to suffer from Alzheimer's than normal people.
The study was conducted on people with a tendency to develop Alzheimer's disease. The results of the study show that patients with hearing loss are vulnerable to mild cognitive impairment.
In other studies, it was found that the more severe the hearing, the easier it is to get dementia. It is not clear that hearing problems are one of the causes of dementia, or that dementia is the main cause of hearing loss, but treating hearing aids can reduce the likelihood of getting dementia.
In the United States, researchers examined the association between dietary habits and cognitive performance in 6,000 participants. 35% of those who keep their habits in the Mediterranean or similar diet for a year have found that they get high marks in cognitive measures.
There are no studies showing that bad eating habits lead to dementia, but maintaining a healthy diet can reduce the likelihood of getting disease.
