Resistance, the hearing-loss dragon, is the voice in your head telling you to do nothing about hearing loss.
You know a hearing screening would be smart because you know you've lost hearing. But Resistance takes another approach. The dragon proclaims
"Don't worry, everyone loses a bit of hearing—just turn up the volume."
"Hey, friend, your hearing isn't the problem. Everyone else is mumbling."
Resistance wins, you lose if you fail to treat hearing loss.
The stakes are too high.
The risks of hearing loss are too high to go along with the dragon. Even with a mild case of hearing loss, you risk—
1. Social isolation and depression
Hearing loss forces your brain to work harder to interpret voices in complicated sound environments. The result is fatigue and frustration, which pull you away from socializing—and increase your risk of loneliness and depression.
2. Poor balance
Untreated hearing loss reduces your ability to balance, tripling your risk of injury from falling. Consider hip fractures: One in three adults aged 50 and over dies within 12 months of suffering a hip fracture—the higher risk of death remains for nearly ten years. Poor balance from hearing loss isn't the only cause of this remarkable statistic. But hearing loss is a risk factor you can effectively manage.
3. Faster cognitive decline
With less sound reaching your brain, the increased workload on your sound-starved brain speeds up cognitive decline. As a result, it is harder to remember, learn, and make decisions.
4. Dementia and Alzheimer's disease
Untreated hearing loss increases the risk of dementia five-fold for severe-to-profound hearing loss, three-fold for moderate hearing loss, and two-fold for mild hearing loss. Alzheimer's is the most common type of dementia accounting for 70-80% of dementia cases.
Despite this evidence, Resistance continues to make a case for putting off doing what's good for you. Resistance is tireless. It never stops, never goes away. Resistance, always ready with an excuse, knows best, is proud to be anti-science.
Until you recognize and confront Resistance, hearing loss has a clear path to damaging your health.
► Download you poster, "On the Field of Hearing Loss Stand a Knight and a Dragon. You are the Knight. Resistance is the Dragon."
How do you conquer Resistance?
You stop it dead in its tracks when you decide your hearing is precious, and you act to preserve it.
Now is the time.
Beat Resistance! Schedule a hearing screening.
Our free, 15-minute hearing screenings performed by an audiologist are an easy way to find out if you have hearing loss.
Why guess? Take charge and find out.
If you have hearing loss, your audiologist will show you how hearing aids restore hearing and mitigate the four risks we discussed—social isolation, poor balance (falls), faster cognitive decline, and dementia.
The stakes are too high to let Resistance win.
Crest Hill: 630-633-5060 | Palos Hills: 708-599-9500
Note of thanks
My thanks to Steven Pressfield for inspiring this post. His book, Do the Work is a work of art. His explanations of Resistance are powerful, reaching deep into your life and everyday behavior. Entrepreneurs, writers, artists, anyone with a dream of doing something that matters will benefit in countless ways from Do the Work and his related books. Visit Steven Pressfield's website.
