Ears are often overlooked and taken for granted, but our ears have an important job to do. They facilitate one of our most important senses and can be easily damaged or impacted by bad habits.
To keep your ears healthy, follow these simple tips:. Keep your ears clean by using a soft cloth or tissue. Avoid cotton swabs, which can irritate the ear canal and cause earwax to build up.
Avoid Exposure to Loud Noise
Dangerously loud noises can have many negative effects on health, especially hearing. They can make it harder to understand others, reduce your ability to think clearly, and increase your risk of developing dementia or other cognitive problems later in life. Fortunately, there are several things you can do to limit your exposure to loud noises and protect your hearing health.
Start by lowering the volume on personal listening devices such as phones and music players. This is particularly important for earbuds and other headphones, which put the drivers right next to your eardrums, increasing the risk of permanent hearing damage.
Consider investing in over-the-ear earplugs or headphones that provide a more effective seal and significantly reduce the amount of sound you absorb, making them ideal for concerts and other noisy environments. Additionally, avoid using cotton swabs or other pointed objects to clean your ears, as this can cause injury to your ear canal or eardrum and lead to earwax impaction.
Finally, when you must be exposed to loud noises, limit the duration of your exposure and take frequent breaks from them. Also, when possible, try to reduce equipment noise by replacing worn, loose, or unbalanced machine parts and keeping them lubricated and well-maintained. Also, be sure to check the noise ratings of appliances, sporting equipment, and power tools before purchasing them. This can help you choose items with lower decibel outputs, which will minimize your risk of hearing damage.
Clean Your Ears Regularly
Many people take ear cleaning for granted, thinking they’re doing their ears a favor by regularly using cotton swabs to remove excess wax. But this could actually be damaging your hearing.
The ear canal is a delicate area that can be damaged by foreign objects, which can also irritate the ear and cause wax to build up. For this reason, it’s important to avoid putting any items smaller than your elbow into your ear canal, such as cotton swabs and other small items like bobby pins or napkin corners.
Even though earwax might seem gross, it’s actually a necessary part of the ear that helps keep dust and other potentially harmful things out of your ear. As you chew, talk and go about your daily activities, loose earwax naturally works its way to the ear opening.
When the earwax gets too thick, it can block the ear canal, leading to hearing loss and other problems. It’s best to leave earwax removal to the professionals by seeing an audiologist or trying ear drops, which can soften earwax and help it slide out of your ear naturally.
After you swim or shower, it’s also a good idea to drain your ears by tilting your head and pulling on your outer ears to encourage water or earwax to flow out of the ear canal. This is especially important for anyone who has a perforation in their eardrum, as water can enter the ear and lead to a complication called tinnitus.
Take Frequent Breaks from Loud Environments
Taking breaks from loud environments is crucial to healthy ears. This can be difficult if you’re attending an event such as a concert, but it’s important to walk away or go somewhere quiet every 15 minutes or so, at the very least. It can also help to wear ear protection, such as noise-canceling headphones that allow you to hear music at a safe volume while keeping other sounds out.
If you’re going to be spending a lot of time in loud environments, such as nightclubs or gigs, try using earplugs that don’t muffle sound to keep your hearing protected without impacting the musical experience too much. These are especially useful for musicians and clubbers who want to protect their hearing while still enjoying their music.
It’s also essential to avoid long-term exposure to loud noises, such as using firearms or power tools on a regular basis, as these can gradually erode the quality of your hearing over time. It’s also recommended to swallow or yawn frequently during air travel to equalize the pressure in your ears.
Earwax is a natural substance in your ears that helps to clean them and prevent infections. However, many people use cotton swabs or other objects to remove it, which can actually push the wax deeper into your ear canal and cause an ear infection or blockage. It’s also a good idea to see your doctor for routine ear cleaning and hearing screenings, which are typically done at the same time as a physical or eye exam.
Avoid Putting Anything Inside Your Ears
Putting objects in the ears is a common cause of earaches and other hearing problems. This goes for adults and children, too. Parents often worry about their children putting toys and other objects into their ears, but the best thing to do is talk with your child about healthy habits and preventative care, as well as to make sure they are up-to-date on all recommended immunizations. It is best to avail ear syringing in Aberdeen as they have a good reputation when it comes to ear health services.
It’s important to avoid putting anything smaller than your elbow into the ear canal, as this can injure the ear canal and eardrum and push earwax deep into the ear canal where it may become impacted. Injuries to the ear drum can also be very painful and require treatment from an ear, nose, and throat (ENT) surgeon.
If an object gets stuck in your ear, tilting the head to one side and gently pulling on the earlobe can help drain water from the ear canal and remove an object. If you can’t get an object out, try pouring alcohol or a little warm oil (like mineral, olive or baby oil) into the ear to help dissolve the wax. If you still can’t see the object, it’s time to call a healthcare provider. Some objects can stay in the ear for a long time, but attempting to remove them can lead to damage and pain and increase the risk of a ruptured eardrum.
See Your Doctor Regularly
Although we often take our hearing for granted, it is an important part of our overall health. Maintaining healthy ears requires regular cleaning and checking for signs of damage or hearing loss. It also involves avoiding certain behaviors and practicing good hygiene. In addition, keeping up with routine screenings helps prevent issues from developing into more serious problems down the road.
Ears are delicate and easily damaged, so you need to be careful when cleaning them. Avoid using cotton swabs, as they can irritate the ear canal and push earwax deeper into the ear. Instead, clean your ears by washing the visible areas of your ear with soap and water and then wiping them dry with a cloth or towel. You can also try putting a drop of olive oil in your ears once a week to soften the earwax and encourage it to drain naturally.
Another way to promote healthy ears is to exercise regularly. Staying physically active can help improve blood flow, which can prevent earwax buildup and other common problems. In addition, it’s important to get up to date on your immunizations so you can protect yourself against infectious illnesses like measles, mumps and whooping cough, all of which can cause hearing loss if left untreated. For more tips on how to keep your ears and hearing in tip-top shape, talk to your otolaryngologist. They can offer you advice and recommend specific habits that will help you maintain healthy ears for life.
Eat Right
Just like you watch what you eat to maintain a healthy weight, you should also take the same approach to your ears. Eating a balanced diet full of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean meats can help keep your body and hearing in good shape.
Ear infections are a common problem, particularly for children. The symptoms of an ear infection typically include pain, a runny nose, congestion in the ears and head, and decreased or muffled hearing. They can be painful, uncomfortable and sometimes difficult to treat.
Regular visits to an otolaryngologist (ear, nose and throat doctor) are crucial for maintaining the health of your ears. They can detect potential problems such as earwax blockages, which are easy to fix with a routine professional cleaning every six to twelve months.
Many people think that they need to clean their ears frequently, but this is actually a bad idea. Your ears are self-cleaning organs, and the ear canal naturally extrudes earwax to the outer ear to remove dirt and debris from the ear canal. Cleansing your ears with cotton swabs can actually damage the ear, as it can push earwax deeper into the ear canal where it can cause infection. Only clean your ears when you experience a buildup of wax, such as dull hearing. This usually indicates that it is time for a professional cleaning. If you are experiencing a painful earwax blockage, make an appointment with your otolaryngologist right away to get it taken care of before the problem becomes worse.