Tiredness can have a wide variety of causes, ranging from a simple sleepless night to respiratory problems such as sleep apnea. But many people are surprised to learn that persistent fatigue and exhaustion can also be a result of something fairly common: hearing loss.
That’s at least partially because of the fact that hearing loss normally develops slowly over time. You may find yourself constantly fatigued for no apparent reason because you failed to detect the symptoms of early hearing loss. This can be a frustrating experience. This exhaustion can frequently turn into irritability which could cause you to socially isolate yourself. The good news is that treating your hearing loss will often improve your energy levels, mitigating tiredness and exhaustion.
Hearing loss progresses slowly (and your brain compensates)
Hearing loss is usually a slowly developing condition that gets worse over time. In its early phases, you likely won’t even detect that you’re developing hearing loss. If you aren’t specifically watching for them, even obvious symptoms, like turning the volume on your audio devices way up, can be easy to overlook.
One of the harder to miss symptoms of hearing loss is often exhaustion. You may feel tired no matter how much sleep you got the night before. This symptom, unfortunately, isn’t usually associated with hearing loss.
Because the cause happens in your brain, the symptoms aren’t usually considered an ear problem. Your brain has to work extra hard to process sound because of the loss of your ability to hear, which can leave you exhausted. This continual extra work is exhausting in the same way that prolonged periods of concentration can take a toll. Left neglected, this fatigue can grow worse over time, impacting your quality of life and your ability to perform daily routine tasks.
Stigma plays a role
So why don’t more individuals just visit a hearing specialist when they start feeling fatigued? One partial explanation is that individuals just don’t connect tiredness with hearing loss. But there’s another reason that might ultimately be more damaging: stigma. There’s a feeling that hearing loss is terrible or ruins your life or that there’s nothing that can be done about it. Individuals will often avoid seeking treatment because of these mistaken ideas.
However, this stigma is starting to fade away as more individuals become open to their hearing loss. It’s becoming a more common understanding that hearing loss can happen to individuals of all ages and today’s hearing aids are discreet enough that the few people who can’t get over this stigma won’t even notice them.
Unfortunately, this perception of social stigma can cause individuals in the early stages of hearing loss to avoid getting the treatment they need leading to more serious permanent hearing loss.
How to manage hearing loss-associated fatigue
The earliest stages of hearing loss might not have any apparent symptoms. That makes it challenging to effectively take a reactive strategy, and it’s why many hearing specialists prefer preventative approaches. Hearing specialists recommend regular screenings in order to create a baseline of your healthy hearing, that way they will be capable of identifying changes to your hearing in later screenings. Early treatment will be a lot more effective once we have determined that baseline.
You can lessen hearing loss associated exhaustion by taking a few proactive steps. A few of the easiest and most common steps include the following:
- Take breaks from conversations: Give yourself some quiet time to rest and refresh in between conversations. This can help your brain recuperate from all the work it’s doing and make day-to-day communication a bit more sustainable.
- Try to have conversations in quieter areas: Distinguishing voices from background noise can be difficult when you have hearing loss (often whether you’re using hearing aids or not). It will be easier, and less tiring, to understand conversations if you move them to a quieter spot.
- Make sure you use your hearing aids as often as you can: One of the chief functions of hearing aids is to clarify human speech, making understanding conversations a lot easier. This means your brain won’t have to work as hard and you won’t experience the same level of fatigue.
- See a hearing specialist: Keeping an eye on the state of your hearing is important. When hearing loss is in its early phases, your brain doesn’t need to work as hard as it does when the condition worsens, and a hearing specialist can diagnose hearing loss when it first begins to develop.
So if you’re dealing with an abnormal amount of exhaustion and tiredness, with no apparent cause, it might be time to plan a visit to your hearing specialist. You can reduce your fatigue and boost your energy by treating your hearing loss. Don’t neglect your hearing loss because you’re afraid of the stigma.