Hearing Loss
“Say it again?”
We’ve all experienced the frustration of trying to communicate with a friend or loved one who is hearing challenged. It’s a tedious process. And as it turns out, hearing loss may have an impact on mental decline.
A study conducted by hearing experts at Johns Hopkins Medicine found that older adults with hearing loss lose cognitive function more quickly than those who have normal hearing. In fact, those with hearing loss had a 30 to 40 percent faster rate of cognitive decline than those with normal hearing.
“On average, older adults with hearing loss developed a significant impairment in their cognitive abilities 3.2 years sooner than those with normal hearing,” according to the study.
Smoking
Listen up, smokers. That bad habit has a lot of health implications, including effects on cognitive function -- especially in men.
Research shows that smoking actually hastens mental decline. A 2012 study showed that, compared to nonsmokers, middle-aged male smokers experienced faster cognitive decline.
“Smoking seemed to speed up the cognitive aging process, making men function mentally as if they were 10 years older,” says Severine Sabia, the study's lead author, in an ABC News article. "For example, a 50-year-old male smoker shows a similar cognitive decline as a 60-year-old male never-smoker.”
The good news is that quitting restores functioning. “In ex-smokers with at least a 10-year cessation, there were no adverse effects on cognitive decline,” the study says.