Happy New Year! There’s no better time than the beginning of a brand-new year to start looking after our wellness. But what does that really mean? After all, the word “wellness” pertains to general health or well-being, which could encapsulate anything from physical to mental health. So, when we talk about taking charge of our wellness in the new year, where do we even begin?
One category at a time
According to the Center of Wellness and Health Promotion (CWHP) at Harvard University, we can look at wellness as being comprised of eight different categories that interconnect or work together to support our overall well-being. These range from physical wellness to social wellness to occupational wellness, and so on. What’s important to remember is that they all work together to promote greater overall health and quality of life.
So, why discuss this in a hearing technology blog? Because treating our hearing loss through hearing aids right now is one of the best—and easiest—things we can do to maintain some of the key categories of wellness in our lives.
How hearing aids help us maintain overall well-being
Here are the four main categories of wellness that better hearing can help us maintain in the new year:
1. Physical wellness
Maintaining physical wellness is about taking care of our body’s need for physical movement, nutrients, sleep, and the ability to ward off health issues. Physical activity in particular can be a gamechanger for physical wellness. According to the Mayo Clinic, regular exercise can improve our mood and sleep, plus help prevent against health conditions such as stroke, Type 2 diabetes, many cancers, and falls.
How better hearing can help with physical wellness: Better hearing through hearing aids can give us greater awareness over our surroundings, so we can participate in healthy physical activity like exercise with the reduced risk of falling (the leading cause of injury for adults 65 and over) thanks to the improved ability to hear important alert sounds such as traffic noises, pets, other pedestrians, bikers, and so forth.
And let’s be real—it’s not always easy to get moving, is it? With Starkey’s latest hearing aids, problem solved: They’re the first hearing devices with the capability to monitor our steps. And when we pair them to the My Starkey app, we can track even more exercise movements, plus set physical activity goals to stay motivated.
2. Intellectual wellness
Just as feeding and exercising our bodies is important, so is nourishing our intellectual wellness. This is about extending our knowledge and skills through continued learning and fostering our creative abilities. The possible benefits of this, according to CWHP, include improved cognition, concentration, memory, thinking, and a “more stimulating life” overall.
How better hearing can help with intellectual wellness: Wearing hearing aids is one of the best things we can do to maintain our brain health. Because when hearing loss is left untreated, the brain spends too much energy trying to process what it’s hearing, leaving it less energy to spend on thinking and memory. Untreated hearing loss can also cause the brain to shrink faster than normal as we age, which additionally can affect our thinking and memory capabilities.
Wearing hearing aids, in contrast, has been proven to not only reduce cognitive decline by almost half, but also boost brain power—meaning we are able to think better, learn better, remember better, and reason better than before, according to research.
So, we can keep our minds in great shape by getting out to that continuing education course we’re curious about, traveling to new places and immersing ourselves into new cultures, or simply streaming audiobooks and documentaries to our hearing aids from the comfort of our own home.
3. Social wellness
When we look after our social wellness, we are taking care of our relationships with others. We’re cultivating that feeling of closeness and belonging and maintaining a support system of people who are there for us (and vice versa). These things are important because they make us feel valued, heard, more confident, and happier in general.
Keeping social isolation and loneliness at bay is also central to our long-term well-being, reducing our risk of depression, anxiety, dementia, and early mortality.
How better hearing can help with social wellness: The improved ability to hear and communicate can empower us to stay connected and involved with the world around us. With hearing technology in our corner, we can participate (even initiate) conversations. Make plans with the people we care about. Attend social environments like restaurants or family events. And spend time out in the community, whether we’re volunteering or taking a cooking class.
And did you know the latest hearing technology further supports our social wellness by allowing us to track social activity, plus set goals to help maintain it? It’s as simple as pairing our devices with the My Starkey app.
4. Occupational wellness
Supporting our occupational wellness is about sustaining the fulfillment or satisfaction we get out of our job or career. (This is a good one, given how much time many of us spend at work in a given day, right?) Caring for this wellness category can assist us in staying motivated, reducing strain, and feeling more optimistic about work and life overall.
How better hearing can help with occupational wellness: Maintaining our ability to listen and communicate through hearing aids allows us to participate with our colleagues, thereby maintaining our productivity, professional standing—and ultimately, income.
Additionally, research has shown that wearing hearing aids can significantly improve our executive function skills, which are essential for the workplace. These include the ability to govern our emotions, which supports us in making decisions and communicating effectively with co-workers.
Another executive function skill supported by better hearing—the ability to solve problems. What more could we want at work to help us manage pressure, resolve disagreements, and build resilience (which we can never have too much of in any aspect of life).
Hear’s to total wellness in the new year!
Taking that one small step of treating our hearing loss can go a long way in preserving our overall wellness—and ultimately, quality of life. And best of all, it’s so easy to get started. Simply make an appointment with a licensed hearing care professional near you.
They can test your hearing, consult with you about your options, and even demo today’s best new hearing technology.
Here's to better hearing and living in the new year!