Tiredness can have a wide variety of causes, ranging from a simple sleepless night to respiratory conditions like sleep apnea. But there is something more common that can also be the cause of tiredness and that’s hearing loss.
That’s at least partially because of the fact that hearing loss usually develops slowly over time. You may not immediately recognize the symptoms and, as a result, you may feel as though you are constantly tired for no reason. This experience can be really frustrating. This exhaustion can frequently turn into irritability which could cause you to socially seclude yourself. Luckily, your energy levels will usually improve once you get your hearing loss treated.
Hearing loss progresses gradually (and your brain compensates)
For the majority of people, hearing loss is a very gradually-progressing condition that grows worse over time. You might not even recognize that you have a hearing impairment at first. If you’re not specifically watching for them, even obvious symptoms, like cranking the volume on your audio devices way up, can be easy to miss.
One of the harder to miss symptoms of hearing loss is often fatigue. You might feel tired no matter how much rest you got the night before. This symptom, regrettably, isn’t usually associated with hearing loss.
That’s because the cause takes place in your brain. When your ears aren’t getting as much information, your brain works harder to make sense of it all. Just as extended periods of intense concentration can leave you fatigued, the extra brain power needed to hear what people are saying can be exhausting. Left neglected, this fatigue can get worse over time, affecting your quality of life and your ability to execute daily routine tasks.
Stigma plays a role
So when people begin to feel tired, why wouldn’t they just go see a hearing specialist? One partial reason is that people just don’t connect fatigue with hearing loss. But there’s another reason that might inevitably be more damaging: stigma. People frequently 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 prevent many people from finding treatment.
However, this stigma is beginning to fade away as more people become open to their hearing loss. Many people understand that hearing loss is not some type of social failing, and the very small nature of modern hearing aids makes them easy to hide around folks who unfortunately will not get over this stigma.
It’s a shame that this social stigma can make it harder for individuals to find the care they need because this often results in hearing loss that grows worse over time when it may not have to.
How to manage hearing loss-associated fatigue
The earliest stages of hearing loss might not have any apparent symptoms. That’s why hearing specialists favor taking a preventative approach rather than the far more challenging and less effective reactive method. For example, 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 identified that baseline.
If your hearing loss is causing fatigue, there are a few steps you can take to lessen that exhaustion as much as possible. Here are several of the most common and simplest steps:
- Take breaks from conversations: In between conversation, take a quiet rest somewhere. Your brain is working overtime to engage in conversation and brief breaks will make that more sustainable.
- Try to find more quiet, secluded spots for conversations: When there is a lot of background noise, it can be challenging to sort out voices, even with hearing aids in some cases. It will be easier, and less tiring, to understand conversations if you move them to a quieter spot.
- Be certain you wear your hearing aids as frequently as you can: Hearing aids are manufactured to help you focus on the sounds of human speech, meaning conversation will be considerably easier to make out when you are hearing them. This means you won’t be as tired because your brain won’t have to work so hard.
- Schedule an assessment with a hearing specialist: It’s important to monitor your hearing health. Visiting 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 need to work as hard to compensate.
It’s most likely time to schedule an appointment with a hearing specialist if you’re experiencing exhaustion with no evident cause. Treating hearing loss can help you minimize your exhaustion and boost your energy. Don’t neglect your hearing loss because you’re concerned about the stigma.