There are numerous possible causes of exhaustion, everything from not being able to sleep at night to respiratory problems like sleep apnea. But there is something more common that can also be the cause of tiredness and that’s hearing loss.
To some extent, that’s because hearing loss can be a gradually-moving, subtle condition. You may not immediately detect the symptoms and, as a result, you might feel as though you are constantly tired for no reason. This can be a frustrating experience. This exhaustion can frequently turn into irritability which could cause you to socially seclude yourself. Luckily, your energy levels will usually increase once you get your hearing loss treated.
Your brain will compensate for slowly progressing hearing loss
For most individuals, hearing loss is a very slow-moving condition that gets worse over time. In its early phases, you probably won’t even detect that you’re developing hearing loss. If you’re not 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 harder 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 instinctively 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. This constant extra work is exhausting in the same way that long periods of concentration can take a toll. Left untreated, this fatigue can grow worse over time, affecting your quality of life and your ability to complete daily routine tasks.
Stigma plays a role
So why don’t more people just go see a hearing specialist when they begin feeling fatigued? There are many explanations: frequently individuals are busy or thinking about other things. But the perception of stigma is another cause which can be even more detrimental. There’s a feeling that hearing loss is bad or ruins your life or that there’s nothing you can do about it. Individuals will frequently avoid pursuing treatment because of these mistaken ideas.
However, this stigma is beginning to disappear as more people become open to their hearing loss. 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 get over this stigma won’t even notice them.
It’s unfortunate that this social stigma can make it more difficult for individuals to find the care they need because this often results in hearing loss that gets worse over time when it might not have to.
How to deal with hearing loss-associated fatigue
The earliest stages of hearing loss may not have any evident symptoms. That’s why hearing specialists prefer to take a preventative strategy rather than the far more challenging and less effective reactive method. For instance, scheduling routine screenings with a hearing specialist before you notice symptoms can help establish a baseline of what your healthy hearing looks like. Early treatment will be much more effective once we have determined that baseline.
If your hearing loss is causing fatigue, there are a few steps you can take to minimize that exhaustion as much as possible. Here are a few of the most prevalent and easiest steps:
- Give yourself a break in between conversations: Give yourself some quiet time to rest and recharge in between conversations. Your brain is working extra hard to engage in conversation and brief breaks will make that more sustainable.
- Be certain you use your hearing aids as often as you can: One of the main functions of hearing aids is to clarify human speech, making understanding conversations a lot easier. This means you won’t be as fatigued because your brain won’t have to work so hard.
- Schedule an assessment with a hearing specialist: Keeping an eye on the status of your hearing is essential. Seeing a hearing specialist can help you detect hearing loss in its early stages when it’s less of a problem and your brain doesn’t have to work as hard to compensate.
- Try to locate more quiet, secluded places for conversations: Sorting out voices from background noise can be difficult when you have hearing loss (often whether you’re using hearing aids or not). Moving conversations to an area with less background noise can make it easier for your brain to focus on the voice you’re attempting to hear, minimizing fatigue in the process.
So if you’re dealing with an unusual amount of exhaustion and tiredness, with no evident cause, it may be time to plan a visit to your hearing specialist. You can reduce your fatigue and boost your energy by treating your hearing loss. Don’t let stigma cause your hearing loss to continue to be untreated.