There are a number of potential causes of exhaustion, everything from being unable to sleep at night to respiratory issues like sleep apnea. But there is something more common that can also cause fatigue and that’s hearing loss.
That’s at least partly due to the fact that hearing loss usually progresses gradually over time. You might not immediately recognize the symptoms and, as a result, you might feel as though you are constantly tired for no reason. This can be a frustrating experience. In addition, this exhaustion can frequently lead to irritability and, ultimately, social isolation. The good news is that treating your hearing loss will often boost your energy levels, reducing tiredness and exhaustion.
Your brain will compensate for gradually developing hearing loss
For the majority of people, hearing loss is a very gradually-progressing condition that grows worse over time. You may not even recognize that you have a hearing impairment at first. If you aren’t specifically watching for them, even conspicuous symptoms, like turning the volume on your audio devices way up, can be easy to miss.
One of the harder to miss symptoms of hearing loss is often exhaustion. You might feel tired no matter how much sleep you got the night before. Regrettably, many people don’t instinctively link this symptom with hearing loss.
Because the cause takes place in your brain, the symptoms aren’t usually considered an ear problem. When your ears aren’t receiving as much information, your brain works overtime to make sense of it all. This constant extra work is exhausting in the same way that long periods of concentration can take a toll. Left neglected, this exhaustion can get 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 people just visit a hearing specialist when they start feeling tired? One partial reason is that individuals just don’t connect fatigue with hearing loss. But the perception of stigma is another reason which can be even more damaging. Individuals frequently feel as if others will think they’re old if they have hearing loss and that admitting it will ruin their lives. All of these things are untrue, and they stop many individuals from finding treatment.
However, as more people are open about their hearing loss experience, the stigma has begun to disappear. It’s becoming a more common understanding that hearing loss can happen to individuals of all ages and modern hearing aids are discreet enough that the few people who can’t let go of this stigma won’t even see them.
Unfortunately, this perception of social stigma can cause people in the early stages of hearing loss to put off on getting the treatment they need resulting in more serious permanent hearing loss.
How to manage hearing loss-associated fatigue
There are frequently no obvious symptoms of early stage hearing loss. That’s why hearing specialists prefer to take a preventative strategy instead of the far more challenging and less effective reactive method. 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. Once this baseline is achieved, early intervention is frequently a lot more effective.
You can lessen hearing loss related exhaustion by taking a few proactive measures. Here are several of the most prevalent and easiest steps:
- Be sure you use your hearing aids as frequently as you can: Hearing aids are designed to help you focus on the sounds of human speech, meaning conversation will be considerably easier to make out when you are hearing them. This means you won’t be as fatigued because your brain won’t need to work so hard.
- Schedule an assessment with a hearing specialist: It’s important to keep tabs on your hearing health. Visiting 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 need to work as hard to compensate.
- Try to have conversations in quieter places: Distinguishing voices from background noise can be challenging 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 area.
- Give yourself a rest in between conversations: In between conversation, take a quiet rest somewhere. Your brain is working overtime to engage in conversation and brief rests will make that more sustainable.
It’s probably time to schedule an appointment with a hearing specialist if you’re experiencing exhaustion with no apparent cause. Treating hearing loss can help you reduce your exhaustion and boost your energy. Don’t neglect your hearing loss because you’re concerned about the stigma.