The Benefits Of Exercise And Physical Activity For Those With Hearing Loss

Exercise is something that we all know we should be doing, but many of us put off our regular workouts for all sorts of reasons. Perhaps it is raining or cold outside, maybe you are not feeling great or perhaps you really just cannot be bothered to get up and go to the gym. However, regular exercise is important.

It not only helps you maintain a healthy weight and lowers your risk of developing diabetes and heart disease but keeping up with a regular exercise routine is incredibly important for your overall health. It will help to improve your mood, boost your energy, help you get a better night’s sleep and keep you active so that you can chase the kids around the park no matter how old you are.

There is now even more motivation for you to go to the gym at least once every week or engage in some sort of physical activity – your hearing. Did you know that staying active on a daily basis is beneficial for your hearing and may possibly help prevent you from experiencing hearing loss?

Relationship Between Staying Active and Healthy Hearing

Research conducted at Johns Hopkins University on the topic of hearing loss and exercise found that maintaining a healthy level of physical activity can help prevent hearing loss. When compared to seniors who did not exercise at all, those who were active for approximately three hours per week had much lower rates of hearing loss. That is only 25 minutes of movement each day, and many of the elderly people were not even doing anything more difficult than going for a walk every day.

How does Staying Active Protect your Hearing?

Inflammation can cause damage to hair cells, nerve cells and capillaries as you get older, which will result in your ears not functioning properly and not receiving adequate amounts of oxygen. When you exercise, you protect your body against the inflammation that often comes with ageing and you also enhance your cardiovascular health.

This ensures that blood continues to circulate properly throughout your entire body, including your ears. Regular exercise is one of the best ways to maintain good hearing health and delay hearing loss that often comes with advancing age.

What Kind of Exercise Should You Do?

Any form of physical activity is better than none. The more active you are, the healthier you will be and the more you will be protecting your hearing for the future. It could be something as simple as walking to work a few times a week, getting off the bus a couple of stops earlier, taking the steps instead of the elevator, playing in the yard with the kids, gardening or going to the gym.

High intensity interval training (HIIT) is a particularly effective form of movement. They can help you to get the very best out of your workout time. You can do this with almost any form of training; it just means that you will have some rigorous exercise followed by some that is slightly less rigorous.

You can do this when you go for a simple walk – you can switch between walking at a fast pace and then slowing it right down or you could even combine jogging or running with walking. This means that you will reap a greater benefit from exercising in a shorter amount of exercise time. However, the most important thing is that you keep moving and keep up with a regular workout routine.

It is strongly advised that you do not exercise while wearing headphones or earbuds because doing so can very easily cause noise-induced hearing loss and can damage the hair cells in your ears as a result of exposure to noise that is too loud being played too close to your ears.

If you do want to listen to music while exercising, we recommend ensuring that the volume is kept at a safe level to avoid damaging your ears and hearing. Many classes at the gym, such as spin classes, have loud music as part of the class, so it is important to protect your hearing in this situation.

For more advice on how exercise and physical activity can be beneficial to hearing health or to speak to an audiologist about anything to do with ears and hearing, get in touch with Advanced Hearing of Brighton today at 810-355-2245.