Physical activity and hearing loss

Hearing loss affects millions of people around the world and is a health problem that tends to promote depression, social isolation and poor mental health. Finding protective factors against hearing loss is essential, since currently existing treatments have limited efficacy.

Along these lines, a recent study indicates that adherence to healthy lifestyles reduces the risk of hearing loss in adults.

The study was carried out by researchers from the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM), the Center for Biomedical Research in the Epidemiology and Public Health Network (CIBERESP), and the IMDEA Food Institute, all of these entities in Spain.

The authors of this research analyzed data from more than 61,000 participants in the UK Biobank study, with the aim of determining the effect that healthy lifestyles have on the auditory system of adults. This study is the first work in the world that examines the joint effect of some healthy lifestyles (never having smoked, moderate alcohol consumption, high levels of physical activity, high quality of diet and optimal sleep) against the loss of hearing, which was tested in all participants.

The results show a clear association between increased adherence to healthy lifestyles and decreased risk of hearing loss, as highlighted by Dr. Humberto Yévenes Briones, co-author of the study and postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health of the Autonomous University of Madrid.

The results of the study indicate that maintaining behaviors typical of a healthy lifestyle, such as performing enough physical exercise, protects against hearing loss in the elderly. (Photo: Amanda Mills/CDC)

According to Dr. Francisco Félix Caballero, a professor in the same department and co-author of the study, adhering to at least four behaviors typical of a healthy lifestyle could reduce the risk of developing clinically relevant hearing loss by 20%.

Dr. Esther López García, co-author of the study and professor at the Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health at the Autonomous University of Madrid, adds: “We estimate that the percentage of population attributable risk for not adhering to any of the five lifestyle behaviors healthy is greater than 15%”

Although longitudinal studies with longer follow-up and repeated lifestyle measurements are needed to fully understand cumulative exposure over time, this study contributes substantially to the prevention of hearing loss in adults.

The study is titled “Association of lifestyle behaviors with hearing loss: The UK Biobank Cohort Study.” And it has been published in the academic journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings. (Source: UAM)