The Role Of Diet And Nutrition In Maintaining Healthy Hearing

There are many small factors that we often overlook or fail to recognize when it comes to maintaining good hearing health. For example, your diet and nutrition habits can significantly impact your hearing. Despite this, it is important to pay attention to our dietary habits, as research has shown that they can have a profound effect on our hearing. Poor nutrition can ultimately lead to hearing loss later in life, making it crucial to understand the role that diet plays in hearing health. By learning about how nutrition affects hearing and taking steps to maintain a healthy diet, we can help prevent hearing loss and promote long-term hearing health.

How Hearing Works

Hearing is something that works in what might seem like mysterious ways. We don’t necessarily need to understand the intricacies of how hearing works, but a combination of hair cells, vibrations, sound waves and the eardrum allow us to receive and then perceive in our brains the sounds that are all around us. Our diet and nutrition can impact these components in many ways and reduce our ability to hear with clarity. For example, malnutrition can stunt the development of the inner ear in young children.

The Impacts of Nutrient Deficiencies

One of the most common ways in which our hearing can be impacted by our diet and nutrition is a lack of nutrients. There are certain nutrients that are considered really important when it comes to the health of our hearing, and a lack of these can negatively impact our hearing health over time. Folic acid and B12 are known to be particularly important when it comes to our hearing. If you don’t have these, you might notice your level of hearing decline over time, and that underlines the importance of a nutrient-rich diet.

Blood Flow and Your Hearing Ability

Blood flow is another important factor when it comes to the way in which our inner ear works. There’s a lot of blood flow in that part of the body and that’s needed to keep all of the various components of our inner ear functioning as they should. That’s why you should keep blood flow and circulation in mind when it comes to your diet. There are some foods that can negatively impact circulation, such as trans fats and excessive amounts of salt. You should try to limit those in your diet and focus on fruit, vegetables and whole grains if possible.

Foods That Contribute to Inflammation

Inflammation can also cause problems for your hearing, and this is another factor that can be significantly impacted by your diet. There are foods that can significantly increase inflammation in your body, and these are the ones you should try to stay away from. For example, refined grains and red meat can cause inflammation, so you might want to stay away from these if you can. The same applies for sodas and other sugar-filled and processed foods, which we know aren’t great for our health for other reasons too.

Sodium Intake

As we briefly mentioned above, sodium is not great for our inner ear, and an excessively high amount of sodium in your diet can negatively impact your health in other ways too. For example, if your diet is high in salt, you might be more likely to experience high blood pressure. That can be bad for your heart health and other factors, and it can also be another factor that negatively impacts your hearing health. That’s why it definitely makes sense to pay close attention to the amount of salt in your diet.

Working with the Professionals

Finally, you should remember the importance of working with the professionals if this is something that you’ve been struggling with. If you think you already have hearing loss, our hearing instrument specialists can help you find the right treatment for your specific needs. You also might want to work alongside a nutritionist if you want to make some changes to your diet that’ll not only positively impact your hearing but your general health and your body in general. They’ll help you achieve that.

It’s important to pay close attention to the way your diet and nutritional choices impact a multitude of facets when it comes to your overall wellbeing. Of course, there are also several other factors that can impact the health of your hearing, but that doesn’t mean you should overlook the role of diet and nutrition. If you want any further help and assistance, contact us today at Hear Clear by calling (603) 455-8777!