Do you feel tired, more than usual? This time of year, that’s totally normal, as the days grow shorter and cooler. However, if you are also struggling with blurry vison or extreme and regular thirst, it could signal diabetes or even prediabetes. Currently 37 million people in the US have diabetes and the numbers keep rising. One in five with diabetes are not even aware they have it. Furthermore, of the 88 million, or one in three with prediabetes, in which they are in the danger zone for full blown diabetes – 80 percent have no clue they are at risk. This and every November is American Diabetes Month, a campaign to raise awareness, promote screening and encourage treatment of this increasingly common health condition.
Undiagnosed or unaddressed, diabetes can escalate to lasting health complications, including heart disease, stroke, nerve damage, blindness, kidney failure, and amputations. In addition, studies show that diabetes may double the risk of hearing loss.
What is Diabetes?
Our cells rely on a regular supply of blood sugar, also known as insulin, in order to support and sustain them. The moderation of blood sugar is managed due to a hormone called insulin, which is produced in the pancreas. Diabetes occurs when either the body’s insulin is ineffective as in the case of type one, or insufficient to absorb blood sugar into the cells across the body and its support systems as in the case of type 2 diabetes. It’s estimated that 90- 95 percent of the 37 million people in the US with diabetes are type 2. As the numbers increase each year in the US, it’s believed to be due to lifestyle choices such as sedentary lifestyle and dietary choices, which lead to heightened numbers across a wide age demographic.
The Diabetes-Hearing Loss Connection
Hearing loss becomes more common with age, however more and more in the United States, hearing loss is becoming a condition which effects people of all ages. This can be due to exposure to loud noise, impact to the head, certain medications and more. Another key aspect of hearing health is heart and blood vessel health. Diabetes constricts the blood vessels across the body. This includes the tiny hair-like cells which deliver sound to the brain. These cells, called stereocilia are the sole manner in which we receive sound in our brain. When these cells are damaged due to a lack of oxygenated blood or due to constricted blood cells, it interrupts sound to our brain, creating a condition for irreversible hearing loss.
Studies of Diabetes and Hearing Loss
A study published in the journal of Otology and Neurotology explored the growing connection between these two very serious and pervasive conditions. Yuri Agrawal, MD, assistant professor of otolaryngology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore explains “There’s no redundancy in the blood supply to the inner ear”. Agrawal and colleagues recorded the hearing and health information from 3,527 adults who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 1999 and 2002. The researchers found that there was a far greater risk to the hearing of patients who suffered from diabetes – in fact the higher the levels of glucose recorded in the blood stream, thie higher the risk of hearing damage. Participants of the study reported more significant losses of tones, pitches, and consonants, the longer diabetes progressed.
Preventing Diabetes-Related Hearing Loss
It’s all too easy to underestimate the importance of treating hearing loss. Untreated, hearing loss can affect your ability to connect to the people you love, the people you work with, be alert in dangerous situations, impact cognitive health, increase the risk of dementia, as well as the risk of falls, leading to hospitalization. It may also affect your likeliness to be social, which in turn will affect an individual’s likeliness to stay active. Quickly we see how hearing loss can encourage a more sedentary lifestyle – which then increases our risk of diabetes. Our health doesn’t occur in a vacuum. To encourage healthy hearing and diabetes prevention an attitude of attending to our total health is essential.
If you’ve been diagnosed with diabetes, you can manage your blood sugar levels by eating a healthy diet free of processed sugar, exercise regularly, avoid smoking and keep track of your blood sugar levels. Agrawal emphasizes: “Hearing should be considered a diabetes-related complication.” If you suspect you have a hearing loss, use American Diabetes Month as a call to action. Schedule a hearing exam today!