Fatigue can have a wide range of causes, ranging from a simple sleepless night to respiratory problems like sleep apnea. But many individuals are surprised to learn that chronic tiredness and exhaustion can also be caused by something fairly common: hearing loss.
That’s at least partially because of the fact that hearing loss normally progresses slowly over time. You might find yourself constantly exhausted for no apparent reason because you failed to recognize the symptoms of early hearing loss. This can be a frustrating experience. This exhaustion can often turn into irritability which could cause you to socially seclude yourself. Fortunately, your energy levels will typically improve once you get your hearing loss treated.
Your brain will compensate for slowly developing hearing loss
Hearing loss is typically a gradually developing condition that grows worse over time. In its early stages, you probably won’t even detect that you’re developing hearing loss. Even prevalent symptoms, like cranking up the volume on your TV and smartphone, can be easy to miss if you aren’t 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. Regrettably, many individuals don’t intuitively connect this symptom with hearing loss.
That’s because the cause happens in your brain. When your ears aren’t receiving as much information, your brain works overtime to make sense of it all. Just as prolonged periods of intense concentration can leave you worn out, the additional brain power required to hear what individuals are saying can be exhausting. Your ability to perform daily tasks and your general quality of life can be significantly affected over time as your untreated hearing loss grows worse.
Stigma plays a role
So why don’t more people just go see a hearing specialist when they begin feeling tired? One partial reason is that individuals just don’t associate tiredness with hearing loss. But the perception of stigma is another cause which can be even more damaging. Individuals often feel like others will think they’re old if they have hearing loss and that acknowledging it will ruin their lives. All of these things are false, and they stop many individuals from finding treatment.
However, this stigma is beginning to fade away as more individuals become open to their hearing loss. It’s becoming a more common understanding that hearing loss can happen to individuals of all ages and today’s hearing aids are small enough that the few people who can’t let go of this stigma won’t even notice them.
Unfortunately, this perception of social stigma can cause people in the early stages of hearing loss to avoid getting the treatment they need leading to more serious permanent hearing loss.
How to deal with hearing loss-associated fatigue
There are often no apparent symptoms of early stage hearing loss. That’s why hearing specialists prefer to take a preventative approach 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 establish a baseline of what your healthy hearing looks like. Once this baseline is established, early intervention is frequently far more effective.
You can minimize hearing loss associated exhaustion by taking a few proactive steps. Some of the easiest and most common measures include the following:
- Try to have conversations in quieter spots: Sorting out voices from background noise can be difficult when you have hearing loss (often whether you’re wearing hearing aids or not). 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.
- Give yourself a rest in between conversations: In between conversation, take a quiet break somewhere. Your brain is working overtime to participate in conversation and brief rests will make that more sustainable.
- Schedule an assessment with a hearing specialist: Keeping an eye on the condition of your hearing is important. Visiting a hearing specialist can help you identify 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.
- Make sure you wear your hearing aids as often as you can: One of the main functions of hearing aids is to clarify human speech, making understanding conversations much easier. This means your brain won’t have to work as hard and you will not experience the same amount of fatigue.
It’s most likely time to schedule an appointment with a hearing specialist if you’re experiencing fatigue with no obvious 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.
