Tiredness can have a wide variety of causes, ranging from a simple sleepless night to respiratory conditions like sleep apnea. But many people are surprised to find out that persistent fatigue and exhaustion can also be a result of something fairly common: hearing loss.
In part, that’s because hearing loss can be a slow-moving, subtle condition. You might not immediately recognize the symptoms and, as a result, you might feel as though you are constantly tired for no reason. This experience can be quite frustrating. In addition, this exhaustion can frequently lead to irritability and, eventually, social isolation. The good news is that treating your hearing loss will frequently boost your energy levels, mitigating tiredness and exhaustion.
Your brain will compensate for gradually developing hearing loss
Hearing loss is typically a gradually developing condition that grows worse over time. You may not even recognize that you have a hearing loss at first. Even common symptoms, like cranking up the volume on your TV and smartphone, can be easy to miss if you’re not watching for them.
One of the harder to miss symptoms of hearing loss is often fatigue. You may feel tired no matter how much sleep you got the night before. Unfortunately, many individuals don’t instinctively link this symptom with hearing loss.
Because the cause takes place in your brain, the symptoms aren’t generally considered an ear problem. When your ears aren’t getting as much information, your brain works harder to make sense of it all. This constant extra work is exhausting in the same way that extended periods of concentration can take a toll. Your ability to perform daily tasks and your overall quality of life can be substantially affected over time as your untreated hearing loss gets worse.
The role of stigma
So when individuals begin to feel tired, why wouldn’t they simply visit a hearing specialist? One partial explanation is that people just don’t associate tiredness with hearing loss. But the notion of stigma is another reason which can be even more detrimental. Individuals frequently feel as if others will think they’re old if they have hearing loss and that admitting it will ruin their lives. Individuals will frequently avoid pursuing treatment because of these mistaken ideas.
However, this stigma is beginning to disappear as more individuals become open to their hearing loss. Many individuals understand that hearing loss isn’t some type of social failing, and the very small construction of modern hearing aids makes them easy to hide around folks who unfortunately will not let go of this stigma.
It’s a shame that this social stigma can make it harder for individuals to find the care they need because this frequently results in hearing loss that gets worse over time when it may not have to.
Solutions for hearing loss-related fatigue
The earliest phases of hearing loss may not have any evident symptoms. That’s why hearing specialists prefer to take a preventative strategy rather than the far more difficult and less effective reactive approach. For example, scheduling regular screenings with a hearing specialist before you notice symptoms can help create a baseline of what your healthy hearing looks like. Early treatment will be a lot more effective once we have identified that baseline.
If your hearing loss is causing fatigue, there are a few steps you can take to lessen that exhaustion as much as possible. Some of the easiest and most common measures include the following:
- Be certain you use your hearing aids as often as you can: Hearing aids are designed to help you focus on the sounds of human speech, meaning conversation will be significantly easier to make out when you are hearing them. This means your brain won’t need to work as hard and you will not experience the same level of fatigue.
- Give yourself a break in between conversations: In between conversation, take a quiet rest somewhere. Your brain is working extra hard to engage in conversation and brief breaks will make that more sustainable.
- Schedule a consultation with a hearing specialist: It’s important to monitor your hearing health. Seeing a hearing specialist can help you detect hearing loss in its early stages when it’s less of an issue and your brain doesn’t have to work as hard to compensate.
- Try to have conversations in quieter spots: When there is a lot of background noise, it can be challenging to sort out voices, even with hearing aids in some circumstances. It will be easier, and less tiring, to understand conversations if you move them to a quieter place.
It’s probably time to make an appointment with a hearing specialist if you’re experiencing exhaustion with no evident cause. You can reduce your fatigue and boost your energy by treating your hearing loss. Don’t let stigma cause your hearing loss to continue to be untreated.