It’s always so impressive to see those Olympic gymnasts tossing themselves around on those narrow beams. How do they do it? Or even more so, how about those tightrope walkers that walk ropes between skyscrapers?
Balance is a beautiful thing. Put technically, it is the ability of a central mass to vertically align itself with minimal sway. In layman’s terms, that means the ability to move along without swaying from side to side, as you would if you were aboard a ship on a particularly choppy sea.
Though most of us can probably never train our balance to be quite as good as a gymnast or tightrope walker, having a certain level of it makes life much more comfortable. In fact, suffering from a disease that affects your balance levels can cause serious problems pretty fast. In fact, a study by Johns Hopkins School of Medicine has linked hearing loss to a three-fold increase of falling in older adults.
It’s National Falls Prevention Month this month, so what can we do to start reducing that number?
Hearing aids can help
Did you know that hearing aids can actually improve your balance? A study by Washington University School of Medicine has shown that hearing aids actively help older adults with balance issues. When there is plenty of light and we can see properly, we use our eyes for balance, but there is more focus on the ears when eyesight isn’t at its best or light is diminished. We rely on them for balance, so using a hearing aid to rectify hearing damage can actually solve or at least improve the problem.
If you find yourself definitely erring more towards the stumbling, dizzy end of the scale than the perfectly balanced gymnast, it is a good idea to get your ears checked out by a professional audiologist.
Here at North Houston Hearing, our professional audiologists are able to give you a full hearing screening that will assess whether or not a hearing aid is right for you. If it is, we have a range to suit all requirements and budgets, and you can be one steady step closer to a happier, healthier you.
