There are a number of possible causes of tiredness, everything from being unable to sleep at night to respiratory issues like sleep apnea. But many people are surprised to find out that chronic fatigue and exhaustion can also be a result of something relatively common: hearing loss.
To some extent, that’s because hearing loss can be a gradually-moving, subtle condition. You might find yourself continuously exhausted for no apparent reason because you failed to detect the symptoms of early hearing loss. This can be a frustrating experience. In addition, this exhaustion can often lead to irritability and, eventually, social isolation. Luckily, your energy levels will normally increase once you get your hearing loss treated.
Your brain will compensate for gradually progressing hearing loss
Hearing loss is typically a slowly advancing condition that grows worse over time. In its early stages, you likely won’t even notice that you’re developing hearing loss. If you aren’t specifically watching for them, even conspicuous symptoms, like cranking the volume on your audio devices way up, can be easy to overlook.
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. Regrettably, many individuals don’t intuitively associate this symptom with hearing loss.
That’s because the cause takes place in your brain. When your ears aren’t receiving as much information, your brain works harder to make sense of it all. This constant extra work is taxing in the same way that extended periods of concentration can take a toll. Left untreated, this exhaustion can grow worse over time, impacting your quality of life and your ability to perform daily routine activities.
Stigma plays a role
So why don’t more people just visit a hearing specialist when they start feeling tired? There are several explanations: frequently individuals are busy or thinking about other things. But the perception of stigma is another reason which can be even more detrimental. Individuals often feel like others will think they’re old if they have hearing loss and that admitting it will ruin their lives. Individuals will often avoid seeking treatment because of these mistaken notions.
However, as more people are open about their hearing loss experience, the stigma has begun to fade. It’s becoming a more common understanding that hearing loss can happen to people 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.
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.
Treatment options for hearing loss-related fatigue
The earliest phases of hearing loss may not have any apparent symptoms. That’s why hearing specialists prefer to take a preventative approach instead of the far more difficult and less effective reactive method. Hearing specialists advocate for routine screenings in order to create a baseline of your healthy hearing, that way they will be capable of identifying changes to your hearing in later screenings. Early treatment will be a lot more effective after we have determined 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: Give yourself some quiet time to rest and recharge in between conversations. This can help your brain recuperate from all the work it’s doing and make day-to-day communication a little more sustainable.
- Try to locate more quiet, secluded places for conversations: Distinguishing voices from background noise can be challenging 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 place.
- Schedule a consultation with a hearing specialist: Keeping an eye on the status of your hearing is important. When hearing loss is in its early phases, your brain doesn’t have 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.
- If you have hearing aids, wear them as often as possible: 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 degree of fatigue.
It’s probably time to schedule an appointment with a hearing specialist if you’re experiencing fatigue with no obvious cause. Treating hearing loss can help you minimize your exhaustion and boost your energy. Don’t neglect your hearing loss because you’re afraid of the stigma.