Tiredness can have a variety of causes, ranging from a simple sleepless night to respiratory conditions like sleep apnea. But many individuals are surprised to find out that persistent fatigue and exhaustion can also be caused by something fairly common: hearing loss.
That’s at least partly due to the fact that hearing loss normally progresses gradually over time. You may find yourself constantly fatigued for no apparent reason because you failed to recognize the symptoms of early hearing loss. This experience can be very frustrating. Additionally, this exhaustion can often lead to irritability and, eventually, social isolation. The good news is that treating your hearing loss will often improve your energy levels, mitigating fatigue and exhaustion.
Your brain will compensate for slowly progressing hearing loss
For the majority of people, hearing loss is a very slow-moving condition that gets worse over time. In its early phases, you probably won’t even notice that you’re developing hearing loss. Even prevalent symptoms, like turning the volume up on your TV and smartphone, can be easy to miss if you’re not watching for them.
Exhaustion is one of the most noticeable symptoms of hearing loss. You may feel depleted no matter how much sleep you got the night before. Unfortunately, many individuals don’t instinctively associate 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 harder to comprehend it all. This continual extra work is exhausting in the same way that prolonged periods of concentration can take a toll. Left neglected, this fatigue can get worse over time, affecting your quality of life and your ability to perform daily routine activities.
The role of stigma
So when individuals begin to feel fatigue, why wouldn’t they simply visit a hearing specialist? One partial explanation is that people just don’t connect tiredness with hearing loss. But the perception of stigma is another cause which can be even more detrimental. People often feel like others will think they’re old if they have hearing loss and that admitting it will ruin their lives. People will often avoid pursuing treatment because of these mistaken ideas.
However, as more individuals 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 people of all ages and today’s hearing aids are small 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 resulting in more severe permanent hearing loss.
How to manage hearing loss-associated fatigue
There are often no apparent symptoms of early phase hearing loss. That’s why hearing specialists prefer to take a preventative strategy rather than the far more challenging and less effective reactive approach. For instance, scheduling routine screenings with a hearing specialist before you detect symptoms can help create a baseline of what your healthy hearing looks like. Once this baseline is established, early intervention is often far more effective.
You can minimize hearing loss related exhaustion by taking a few proactive steps. Here are a few of the most prevalent and easiest steps:
- 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 location.
- Schedule an assessment with a hearing specialist: It’s important to monitor your hearing health. When hearing loss is in its early phases, your brain doesn’t have 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.
- Take breaks from conversations: In between conversation, take a quiet rest somewhere. This can help your brain recuperate from all the work it’s doing and make everyday communication a little more sustainable.
- If you use hearing aids, wear them as often as possible: One of the primary functions of hearing aids is to clarify human speech, making understanding conversations much easier. This means you won’t be as tired because your brain won’t need to work so hard.
It’s most likely time to schedule an appointment with a hearing specialist if you’re experiencing fatigue with no evident cause. Treating hearing loss can help you reduce your exhaustion and boost your energy. Don’t let stigma cause your hearing loss to continue to be untreated.