Fatigue can have a wide range of causes, ranging from a simple sleepless night to respiratory conditions such as sleep apnea. But many individuals are surprised to find out that chronic tiredness and exhaustion can also be caused by something fairly common: hearing loss.
In part, that’s because hearing loss can be a slow-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. This exhaustion can often turn into irritability which could cause you to socially isolate yourself. The good news is that treating your hearing loss will often boost your energy levels, reducing fatigue and exhaustion.
Your brain will compensate for slowly progressing hearing loss
For the majority of people, hearing loss is a very slow-moving condition that grows worse over time. In its early stages, you likely won’t even notice that you’re developing hearing loss. Even common symptoms, like cranking the volume up on your TV and smartphone, can be easy to miss if you aren’t watching for them.
Fatigue is one of the most obvious symptoms of hearing loss. You may 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 occurs in your brain. Your brain has to work extra hard to process sound because of the loss of your ability to hear, which can leave you fatigued. Just as extended periods of intense concentration can leave you fatigued, the additional brain power needed to hear what people are saying can be exhausting. Left untreated, this fatigue can get worse over time, impacting your quality of life and your ability to complete daily routine tasks.
Stigma plays a role
So why don’t more individuals just go see a hearing specialist when they begin feeling tired? One partial reason is that people just don’t connect tiredness with hearing loss. But the notion of stigma is another cause which can be even more damaging. There’s an impression that hearing loss is terrible or ruins your life or that there’s nothing you can do about it. All of these things are false, and they stop many people from seeking treatment.
However, as more people are open about their hearing loss experience, the stigma has started to disappear. It’s becoming a more prevalent understanding that hearing loss can happen to individuals of all ages and today’s hearing aids are discreet enough that the few people who can’t get over this stigma won’t even see them.
It’s unfortunate that this social stigma can make it more difficult for people to find the care they need because this frequently results in hearing loss that gets worse over time when it may not have to.
Solutions for hearing loss-related fatigue
There are often no noticeable symptoms of early stage hearing loss. That makes it difficult to effectively take a reactive approach, and it’s why many hearing specialists favor preventative approaches. For instance, scheduling routine screenings with a hearing specialist before you detect 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.
If your hearing loss is causing fatigue, there are some steps you can take to minimize that exhaustion as much as possible. Here are a few of the most prevalent and easiest steps:
- 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. It will be easier, and less fatiguing, to understand conversations if you move them to a quieter place.
- If you use hearing aids, wear them as frequently as you can: Hearing aids are manufactured to help you focus on the sounds of human speech, meaning conversation will be substantially easier to make out when you are hearing them. This means your brain won’t have to work as hard and you will not experience the same level of fatigue.
- Schedule an assessment with a hearing specialist: Keeping an eye on the condition of your hearing is essential. Consulting 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 need to work as hard to compensate.
- Take breaks from conversations: Give yourself some quiet time to rest and recharge in between conversations. Your brain is working overtime to take part in conversation and brief rests will make that more sustainable.
It’s most likely time to make an appointment with a hearing specialist if you’re experiencing exhaustion with no obvious cause. You can reduce your fatigue and boost your energy by treating your hearing loss. Don’t neglect your hearing loss because you’re concerned about the stigma.