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Protect Your Ears Underwater
Love the water, don't you? It makes all the senses tingle -- it looks beautiful, feels nice, leaves a fine aftertaste on your lips, has a refreshing aroma, and sounds cool. But watch out! If you enjoy frolicking in the big blue, it may be doing a number on your ears.

If you do a lot of surfing, kayaking, or diving in cold water and you're having more and more trouble hearing, don't blame it on those Pearl Jam concerts you that left your ear drums ringing back in the '90s. Researchers have found that frequent wipeouts in cold water over a number of years can cause bony exostoses in the ear. Simply put, that means the bones along your ear canal grow abnormally large. That not only makes it harder to hear, but a narrowing ear canal can also trap water, making the ear a perfect breeding ground for bacteria that can lead to damaging infections.

Research suggests that surfers who hit the waves fifty times a year over a five-year period experienced a 10 to 20 percent closure of the ear canal. Those who "hanged ten" for more than a decade suffered an 80 percent closure of the ear canal. Doctors haven't pinpointed the cause of exostoses yet, but they believe cold water seems to accelerate bone growth in the ear. If your hearing suffers drastically, a doctor can operate and chisel off some of the growth. But as with most medical maladies, prevention is best. Physicians advise wearing a protective beanie or custom-molded ear plugs to keep the water out -- and to keep your hearing in.

Prepared by Mark Matthews for Dreamlife