A head-to-toe check in for your health

Life Kit

This episode of Life Kit provides a comprehensive 'head-to-toe' guide to physical health maintenance. Featuring various medical professional

Key takeaways

• Protect ears from sounds exceeding 85 decibels to prevent noise-induced hearing loss.
• Follow the 20-20-20 rule—looking 20 feet away for 20 seconds every 20 minutes—to mitigate digital eye strain.

Main topics

• Hearing protection
• Digital eye strain

Notable quotes

Our bodies don't work for us. They work with us.

Conclusion

The episode serves as a practical toolkit for seasonal health check-in

Transcript preview

Speaker 7 (0:00) This November, there's a wave of Democrats running for office who are all members of the clergy. But can they convince the party's secular base? I don't think Speaker 5 (0:08) religion should play into government and politics at all. I thought the country was founded on that. Speaker 7 (0:14) On the Sunday Story, how Democratic pastors are reframing the role of faith in American politics. Listen now to the Sunday Story from the Up First podcast on the NPR app. Speaker 1 (0:24) You're listening to Life Kit from NPR. Hey, it's Marielle. A lot of us treat our bodies like they're our employees. You know, they work for us. And when they don't work for us, we get mad. We say mean things about them. We're frustrated. We're disappointed. The way I see it, though, our bodies don't work for us. They work with us. And if we want to give them the best chance at doing that, we have to take care of them to give them regular attention so they can support us. Now, I need to do a quick plug here for going to the doctor. Make sure you're getting your annual physicals and checking in with your health care providers as needed, because as we know, a podcast is not the same as professional medical advice. But beyond that, we want to help you take care of your bodies. So on this episode, LifeKit reporter Andy Tagle has put together some of our favorite health tips from head to toe. We've got advice from an audiologist, an ophthalmologist, a dermatologist, and more. That's after the break. Speaker 5 (1:32) This week on Sources and Methods, an eyebrow-raising message from President Trump to the U.N. Quote, to the victor belong the spoils. Also, President Xi Jinping of China meets with Trump in D.C. We'll tell you what to watch for. Stay ahead of the week's biggest national security news with Sources and Methods from NPR. Speaker 7 (1:57) Hey, it's me, Peter Sagal, host of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. It's leaf peeping season, so why not peep our weekly news quiz while you're at it? We've got comedians, celebrities, and games to help laugh about the week's news, and you can listen while you're spicing your pumpkins, whatever people do. Listen every week to Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 8 (2:18) Before Bernie Sanders or AOC, a man named Michael Harrington tried to market socialism to the American public. Tens of millions of Americans are poor, miserable, in body and in spirit. On NPR's ThruLine, how the founder of the DSA created a modern political movement. Listen to ThruLine in the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 2 (2:42) All right, first up on our tour through the body, Magic School Bus style. Shout out to all my fellow millennials who will forever adore Ms. Frizzle. Our ears. Feels appropriate since you're listening to a podcast right now. How's the volume on this episode, by the way? Is my voice coming through loud and clear? Good. So you can listen closely to our first reminder for hearing health. Learn the signs of noise-induced hearing loss and don't forget to protect your ears. Especially when you know you'll be around loud noises for a long time. Speaker 2 (3:14) Now, when you think about hearing loss, you might assume it's an older person's problem. But with the advent of personal audio devices, perhaps like the one you're listening to right now, over 1 billion young people aged 12 to 35 are at risk of hearing loss due to prolonged and excessive exposure to loud sounds at dangerous levels. This is according to a 2019 report from the World Health Organization. And the WHO projects nearly 2.5 billion people will have at least some degree of hearing loss by the year 2050. So, how do you know if you're at risk for noise-induced hearing loss? And what can you do about it? Well, it sounds different for everyone, but it often happens gradually. And there are a few common symptoms to be on the lookout for. Speaker 3 (4:03) When we have hearing loss, that becomes harder to filter out the speech from the noise, or I should put it as the sound source that we want to hear versus the sounds that we don't want to hear. Speaker 2 (4:13) This is Ariella Naeem, senior audiologist at AudioHelp Hearing Center in New York City, talking here in her office to LifeKit producer Margaret Serino, who originally reported on this topic. She says hearing loss is a result of damage either over time or from one big sudden noise. to these teeny tiny hair cells in our ears that help convert sound frequencies into electrical signals. Speaker 3 (4:37) They won't transmit that sound as well to the brain because at the end of the day, it's all about our brain hearing and our brain processing what's going on. Speaker 2 (4:46) So noise-induced hearing loss isn't just about your ability to hear external sounds. It's also about your brain's ability to interpret them. For example, Have you ever walked out of a concert and turned to talk to a friend, but you can't quite understand what they're saying? That muffled feeling is one sign to watch out for. Other signs? If you have trouble following a conversation in noisy places, or if you struggle with or have hypersensitivity to particular sounds or tones of voice. But one of the most common symptoms to pay attention to is tinnitus. And yes, that is the correct pronunciation. It's usually defined by a ringing or buzzing in the ears, or like the static on the TV or radio turned all the way up. Speaker 3 (5:33) And the number one cause of tinnitus is hearing loss. Speaker 2 (5:37) If any of this feels familiar, it's a good idea to get your hearing tested and establish what your baseline level of hearing is. You can talk to your primary care doctor about a referral for a full audiological exam or try a free test online. Hearingnumber.org or hearing.org are two good places to start. Now, the best way to prevent noise-induced hearing loss, no big shocker here, is to protect your ears. But what might surprise you is how often they need protecting. The Speaker 3 (6:05) rule of thumb is that when you're listening to a sound at what's considered 85 decibels, you are safe. Speaker 2 (6:11) Some examples of 85 decibels of sound? City traffic, a vacuum cleaner, a garbage disposal. So a fair amount of noise, but eight hours of exposure at 85 decibels can lead to hearing loss. And then... Speaker 3 (6:25) When you increase that sound by five decibels, you have to cut the time in half. Speaker 2 (6:31) And let's note, recommendations vary here. Like the CDC's number is three decibels, not five. And our everyday world is loud. An approaching subway train, roughly 100 decibels. The music and sounds of a nightclub or bar,