Lately I’ve been reading a lot of information about the relationship between hearing and dementia.
The latest source is an article entitled “Here’s What Really Matters in Preventing Dementia. It’s Not All Brain Teasers and Crosswords.” This article by Neal Templin was a feature article in Barron’s, published February 18, 2023.
We’ve heard that activities such as brain teasers and crossword puzzles are good for keeping the brain spry, but Templin also cites a 2020 report of the Lancet commission on dementia prevention, which found that “People with untreated hearing loss have a 90% higher rate of dementia than others in their age group.”
Templin mentions that “As America grays, seniors are looking for answers to make sure their cognitive abilities don’t expire before they do. They are told they should eat a Mediterranean diet. Get enough sleep. Avoid stress. Walk 10,000 steps a day. Lose weight.” Scientists say that’s it’s not just one thing that helps to prevent dementia, but that there are a multitude of factors. What has perhaps been underemphasized in the past is the role of hearing.
So, what to do about hearing loss? First, the recommendation is to get your hearing tested so that you know the status of your hearing capabilities. An obvious remedy for hearing loss is to make use of hearing aids; these devices have seen much improvement as the technology continues to evolve.
I think it behooves us to consider an additional preventative/corrective practice that is available to all of us, and that involves the employment of certain techniques from Qigong.
In Spring Forest Qigong, we make use of several tapping and massage techniques applied to key energy points in the body that bring about benefits to our hearing system. Our ears are considered to be part of the kidney organ energy system, and any exercise that addresses this system is considered to benefit the ears. In Master Chun-yi Lin’s book, Head-to-Toe Healing, he describes six different techniques to benefit the ears. For example, technique #22, which involves massaging the entire ear from the top down to the lobe, is said to benefit hearing problems as well as balance the energy in your entire body.
Master Lin says of this technique that “This is one of the most simple and effective exercises you can do for stimulating energy in your body and opening blockages in your organs, because your ears have acupuncture points connection to all the parts of your body. Massaging your ears is like giving your whole body a good tune-up.” (In fact, this is one of my personal favorite self-massage techniques.) It’s a simple technique to add to the entire repertoire of preventative measures against dementia.
In our practice sessions of Spring Forest Qigong, we often include these specific techniques. If you would like more information about our approach, please send me a message through the contact form available in the top navigation bar.
