Tiredness can have a wide range of causes, ranging from a simple sleepless night to respiratory conditions like sleep apnea. But many individuals are surprised to find out that chronic fatigue and exhaustion can also be caused by something fairly common: hearing loss.
That’s at least partially due to the fact that hearing loss normally develops slowly over time. You may find yourself constantly exhausted for no apparent reason because you failed to recognize the symptoms of early hearing loss. This experience can be really frustrating. In addition, this exhaustion can often lead to irritability and, ultimately, social isolation. Luckily, your energy levels will typically improve once you get your hearing loss treated.
Your brain will compensate for gradually developing hearing loss
Hearing loss is normally a gradually developing condition that gets worse over time. You may not even recognize that you have a hearing loss at first. 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 more difficult to miss symptoms of hearing loss is often fatigue. Regardless of how much sleep you get, you could still feel fatigued. Unfortunately, many people don’t intuitively associate this symptom with hearing loss.
That’s because the cause occurs in your brain. Your brain needs to work overtime to process sound because of the loss of your ability to hear, which can leave you exhausted. This constant extra work is exhausting in the same way that prolonged periods of concentration can take a toll. Your ability to complete daily tasks and your general quality of life can be substantially affected over time as your neglected hearing loss gets worse.
The role of stigma
So when people begin to feel fatigue, why wouldn’t they simply visit a hearing specialist? There are several explanations: often individuals are busy or thinking about other things. But there’s another reason that may inevitably be more damaging: stigma. There’s a feeling that hearing loss is bad or ruins your life or that there’s nothing you can do about it. All of these things are untrue, and they prevent many people from seeking treatment.
However, as more individuals are open about their hearing loss experience, the stigma has begun to fade. It’s becoming a more prevalent understanding that hearing loss can happen to individuals of all ages and modern hearing aids are small enough that the few people who can’t let go of this stigma won’t even notice them.
It’s unfortunate that this social stigma can make it harder for people to find the care they need because this frequently leads to hearing loss that gets worse over time when it might not need to.
Solutions for hearing loss-related fatigue
The earliest stages of hearing loss might not have any evident symptoms. That makes it difficult to effectively take a reactive strategy, and it’s why many hearing specialists favor preventative techniques. 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 achieved, early intervention is frequently far more effective.
You can lessen hearing loss related exhaustion by taking a few proactive measures. A few of the easiest and most common measures include the following:
- See a hearing specialist: It’s important to monitor your hearing health. 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 identify hearing loss when it first begins to develop.
- Try to locate more quiet, isolated places for conversations: When there is a lot of background noise, it can be challenging to sort out voices, even with hearing aids in some circumstances. Moving conversations to a location with less background noise can make it easier for your brain to focus on the voice you’re trying to hear, lessening fatigue in the process.
- Take breaks from conversations: In between conversation, take a quiet rest somewhere. This can help your brain recover from all the work it’s doing and make day-to-day communication a bit more sustainable.
- Be sure you wear your hearing aids as frequently as you can: One of the primary functions of hearing aids is to clarify human speech, making understanding conversations a lot easier. This means you won’t be as tired because your brain won’t have to work so hard.
So if you’re dealing with an abnormal amount of exhaustion and tiredness, with no discernible cause, it may be time to schedule a visit to your hearing specialist. You can lessen your fatigue and boost your energy by treating your hearing loss. Don’t neglect your hearing loss because you’re concerned about the stigma.