Fatigue 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 chronic tiredness and exhaustion can also be due to something relatively common: hearing loss.
That’s at least partly because of the fact that hearing loss normally progresses gradually over time. You might find yourself continuously exhausted for no apparent reason because you failed to detect the symptoms of early hearing loss. This experience can be very frustrating. This fatigue can often turn into irritability which could cause you to socially isolate yourself. Fortunately, your energy levels will normally increase once you get your hearing loss treated.
Your brain will compensate for gradually progressing hearing loss
For most people, hearing loss is a very slow-moving condition that gets worse over time. You may not even realize that you have a hearing impairment at first. Even common symptoms, like cranking the volume up on your TV and smartphone, can be easy to miss if you’re not watching for them.
One of the more difficult to miss symptoms of hearing loss is often fatigue. You may feel tired no matter how much rest you got the night before. This symptom, regrettably, 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. In the same way as prolonged periods of intense concentration can leave you fatigued, the additional brain power needed to hear what people are saying can be exhausting. Your ability to complete daily tasks and your overall quality of life can be substantially impacted over time as your neglected hearing loss grows worse.
Stigma plays a role
So when people start to feel tired, why wouldn’t they just visit a hearing specialist? There are many explanations: frequently people are busy or thinking about other things. But there’s another reason that might inevitably be more detrimental: stigma. There’s a feeling that hearing loss is terrible or ruins your life or that there’s nothing you can do about it. Individuals will often avoid seeking treatment because of these mistaken notions.
However, as more individuals are open about their hearing loss experience, the stigma has started to fade. It’s becoming a more prevalent 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.
It’s unfortunate that this social stigma can make it more difficult for people to find the care they need because this often results in hearing loss that grows worse over time when it may not need to.
How to manage hearing loss-associated fatigue
The earliest phases of hearing loss might not have any noticeable symptoms. That’s why hearing specialists favor taking a preventative approach instead of the far more challenging and less effective reactive method. Hearing specialists advocate for routine screenings in order to establish a baseline of your healthy hearing, that way they will be able to identify changes to your hearing in later screenings. Once this baseline is achieved, early intervention is frequently much more effective.
You can minimize hearing loss related exhaustion by taking a few proactive steps. Some of the easiest and most common steps include the following:
- 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 your brain won’t have to work as hard and you will not experience the same level of fatigue.
- Consult 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.
- Give yourself a break in between 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 everyday communication a bit more sustainable.
- Try to have conversations in quieter spots: Distinguishing voices from background noise can be difficult when you have hearing loss (often whether you’re wearing hearing aids or not). It will be easier, and less fatiguing, to understand conversations if you move them to a quieter spot.
It’s most likely time to make an appointment with a hearing specialist if you’re experiencing fatigue with no apparent cause. Treating hearing loss can help you lessen your exhaustion and boost your energy. Don’t neglect your hearing loss because you’re afraid of the stigma.