Annie Hoey (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Another of the things that struck me was the link between hearing loss and the development of dementia. I was surprised to hear that. I looked it up afterwards because I wanted to know what the story with it is. A 2020 report in The Lancethighlighted that people who live with hearing loss have a greater risk of developing dementia. That is something I would not have had a clue about. I did not know anything about it. A message for us all today is that we need to get our hearing tested in the same manner in which we get our eyes tested, particularly as we age. That was a good example of modifiable risk factors about which we do not know. We tend to think that dementia is an old person's disease, that it is far away and there is nothing anyone can do in their 20s, 30 or 40s to take proactive steps to try to reduce the risk. We should all get our hearing tested.

As we move into being a dementia-friendly society, the idea of opening up a conversation about brain health is a useful one. It was not something with which I was overly familiar. Yesterday, when I went home, I was googling how to look after my brain health. I wanted to know if we should be doing Sudoku or what might help to stretch our brains. I was struck that it is all about the daily things we are told to do and look after, including exercise, social connection, reducing our alcohol consumption and not smoking. We always think about some of those things as part of our physical health. I never understood the link between them and brain health. I again thank Senator O'Loughlin for organising that briefing yesterday. It was incredibly helpful for me in how I think about my own health and that of our communities, and health in general. I also thank the Minister for Health for all the work she is doing in this area. It is an important topic.