Dull Senses Equal A Dull Life, So Protect Them
You have five senses (roughly speaking). And each of them is a portal into the outside world. Sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell provide you with useful (and sometimes enjoyable) information about the world around you.
Unfortunately, though, not all of us look after our senses. In fact, in many cases, we downright abuse them.
In this post, we take a look at some of the things you can do to protect them so that they’re still with you as you get older.
Eat A Plant-Based Diet For Sight
Eyesight is human beings’ primary sense. Processing visual information takes up a large chunk of our brains’ processing power.
However, over time, it can fail. Most people need glasses after the age of fifty or sixty.
To counteract this, eat a healthy diet. Give your body the plant compounds it needs to stave off degeneration of the macular unit. Feed it plenty of carotenes from greens, carrots and sweet potatoes to protect the retina.
Wear UV Sunglasses
On a similar theme, you’ll also want to go through life wearing UV sunglasses, particularly on sunny summer days. UV from the sun can damage the sensitive light-sensing cells at the back of the eye and dull your vision over time. When you are young, this process occurs very slowly. However, as you get older, it accelerates. In some extreme cases, it can lead to blurred vision and make it challenging to see objects across the room.
Use Ear Plugs In Loud Sound Environments
If you like going to rock concerts or you work on a building site, it’s a good idea to wear ear plugs. If you continually expose yourself to noises above 85 decibels, you’ll eventually damage the sensitive components of the inner ear, making it harder to hear things around you, something you can learn more about online.
Typically, people experience sensorineural hearing loss. This occurs when the fine hair-like structures of the cochlear (the inner ear) become damaged and can no longer transmit the essence of the sound to the auditory nerve. When this process comes to an end, the brain can no longer collect the signal and interpret a sound from it.
Sniff Essential Oils
If you’ve had COVID-19, chances are that your sense of smell isn’t what it used to be. You might be struggling to pick up scents in your environment whereas before, you didn’t have any trouble at all.
Here’s a tip: try sniffing some essential oils. The pungent compounds they contain will stimulate sense perception regions in your brain, effectively retraining your nasal apparatus. Over time, you’ll notice that you’re able to detect more smells in your environment and that your sense of smell is going back to normal.
Clear Out Your Arteries To Protect Your Sense Of Touch
Lastly, to protect your sense of touch, you’ll want to make sure that your cardiovascular system can deliver fresh supplies of blood to all your peripheral tissues. This way, you can feed the neurons with oxygen and other nutrients. To do this, eat a healthy, plant-based diet.