We’re all getting older. There’s very little that we can do about that. We can, however, play a large part in how we get older. There are a lot of elements of your health that you need to pay more attention to as you age, including weight management, heart health, and more. However, one category of health that you can begin to immediately notice changes in as you get older is your senses. Hearing, sight, taste, and more can be at risk if you’re not careful. Here, we’re going to look at what those risks can be, and what you can do to mitigate them as best as possible.
Keep an ear out for your hearing
One of the senses that are most famous for how it can change throughout the years is our hearing. As we get older, we have a higher risk of experiencing changes to our hearing. However, those changes can start to take root when we’re much younger. Exposing our ears to excess noise, especially common via headphones these days, can increase the chance that we experience hearing loss. The single best way to stay on top of your hearing health is to make an appointment with your audiologist and schedule a hearing check. They can let you know if you have any hearing loss, as well as the steps you can take to protect your hearing.
Watch out for vision changes
Your eyesight is the one sense, alongside hearing, that’s most vital to how you perceive the world. Some people experience vision changes naturally and you can start wearing glasses to correct it at any point in your life. However, there are elements of self-care, such as nutrition, that can have a huge impact on eyesight. Taking total eye care supplements, taking care to maintain your blood sugar levels, and eating the right foods to maintain your eyesight, such as fish, red peppers, and dark, leafy vegetables can help you fight off some of the age-related deterioration that so commonly affects our eyesight. Of course, getting it checked out by an optician is the best way to get an idea of the current condition of your eyes, as well.
Don’t take your teeth for granted
Most people know to take care of their teeth. However, are you aware that it can become harder to take care of them as you get older? If you’re simply brushing twice a day or even using mouthwash, then it might be time to make a visit to the dentist. Losing teeth is not only going to affect your smile, but it also affects how you eat and how you speak. Even with things like partial dentures, there will be changes that can take some time to acclimate to.
Savor your sense of taste
One of the senses that can begin to deteriorate naturally as we get older is our sense of smell. Very closely connected to this is our sense of taste. However, there’s one habit in particular that is a bigger risk factor than any other currently known. Smoking comes with a wide plethora of potential health problems, including respiratory conditions and throat and lung cancer. However, even if you avoid those, smoking has been linked to a loss of taste, especially if you smoke and drink. In fact, smoking has been linked to the loss of all senses, largely due to how smoking is connected to your blood vessel health.
Balance is a sense, too
While we might not frequently count it up there with hearing, sight, smell, and taste, your sense of balance is one that’s worth preserving, too. Balance issues are fairly common, a lot of people will experience vertigo temporarily, only for it to go away, often after a course of the appropriate medication. However, long-term or recurring vertigo is a very real problem, that is often associated with ear health, and for good reason. Your ear not only perceives sound, but it also governs your sense of balance. Any problems affecting your ear, be it an infection, fluid buildup, or even earwax, can affect your balance, too. However, there are other risk factors that can affect your sense of balance, such as migraines, cholesterol levels, and vitamin D deficiencies. If you begin to feel symptoms of vertigo, then you should talk to your doctor as they can get to the bottom of which risk factors might be to blame.
You might not be able to regain your keen eyesight or to hear as well as you did when you were a teenager, but you can make sure that you’re not endangering your senses anymore with the tips above.