There are numerous potential causes of exhaustion, everything from not being able to sleep at night to respiratory issues like sleep apnea. But many individuals are surprised to find out that persistent fatigue and exhaustion can also be a result of something fairly common: hearing loss.
That’s at least partially because of the fact that hearing loss normally develops gradually over time. You might not immediately detect the symptoms and, as a result, you may feel as though you’re constantly tired for no reason. This can be a frustrating experience. Additionally, this exhaustion can frequently result in irritability and, eventually, social isolation. Fortunately, your energy levels will typically increase once you get your hearing loss treated.
Your brain will compensate for slowly progressing hearing loss
Hearing loss is usually a slowly developing condition that grows worse over time. You might not even recognize that you have a hearing loss 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 exhaustion. Regardless of how much sleep you get, you could still feel exhausted. This symptom, regrettably, isn’t usually associated with hearing loss.
Because the cause occurs in your brain, the symptoms aren’t generally considered an ear problem. When your ears aren’t getting as much information, your brain works overtime to comprehend it all. Just as sustained periods of intense concentration can leave you tired, the additional brain power required to hear what people are saying can be exhausting. Left untreated, this fatigue can grow worse over time, affecting your quality of life and your ability to execute daily routine tasks.
Stigma plays a role
So why don’t more individuals just visit a hearing specialist when they begin feeling tired? One partial reason is that individuals just don’t associate tiredness with hearing loss. But the notion of stigma is another reason which can be even more damaging. Individuals frequently feel like others will think they’re old if they have hearing loss and that admitting it will ruin their lives. People will frequently avoid seeking treatment because of these mistaken ideas.
However, this stigma is starting to fade away as more people become open to their hearing loss. It’s becoming a more common 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 notice them.
It’s a shame that this social stigma can make it more difficult for individuals to find the care they need because this frequently leads to hearing loss that grows 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’s why hearing specialists prefer to take a preventative approach instead of the far more difficult and less effective reactive method. 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 much more effective.
If your hearing loss is causing fatigue, there are a few steps you can take to minimize that exhaustion as much as possible. Some of the simplest and most common measures include the following:
- 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 you won’t be as fatigued because your brain won’t need to work so hard.
- Take breaks from conversations: Give yourself some quiet time to rest and recharge in between conversations. Your brain is working overtime to engage in conversation and brief breaks will make that more sustainable.
- Try to have conversations in quieter areas: When there is a lot of background noise, it can be difficult to sort out voices, even with hearing aids in some cases. Moving conversations to an area with less background noise can make it easier for your brain to focus on the voice you’re trying to hear, minimizing fatigue in the process.
- See a hearing specialist: It’s important to monitor your hearing health. When hearing loss is in its early stages, your brain doesn’t need to work as hard as it does when the condition gets worse, and a hearing specialist can diagnose hearing loss when it first begins to develop.
So if you’re experiencing an unusual amount of fatigue and tiredness, with no discernible cause, it might be time to schedule 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 neglected.