Fatigue can have a variety of causes, ranging from a simple sleepless night to respiratory problems such as sleep apnea. But there is something more common that can also cause tiredness and that’s hearing loss.
In part, that’s because hearing loss can be a gradually-moving, subtle condition. You may find yourself constantly exhausted for no apparent reason because you failed to detect the symptoms of early hearing loss. This can be a frustrating experience. Additionally, this exhaustion can frequently result in irritability and, ultimately, social isolation. The good news is that treating your hearing loss will often boost your energy levels, mitigating tiredness and exhaustion.
Your brain will compensate for slowly developing hearing loss
For most individuals, hearing loss is a very gradually-progressing condition that gets worse over time. You may not even recognize that you have a hearing loss at first. Even prevalent symptoms, like turning up the volume on your TV and smartphone, can be easy to miss if you’re not looking for them.
One of the harder to miss symptoms of hearing loss is often exhaustion. You may feel depleted no matter how much rest you got the night before. This symptom, unfortunately, isn’t typically associated 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 overtime to comprehend it all. Just as sustained periods of intense concentration can leave you fatigued, the extra brain power needed to hear what individuals are saying can be exhausting. Your ability to complete daily tasks and your general quality of life can be substantially affected over time as your neglected hearing loss gets worse.
Stigma plays a role
So why don’t more individuals just consult a hearing specialist when they begin feeling tired? There are many explanations: often individuals are busy or thinking about other things. But there’s another reason that may ultimately be more detrimental: stigma. There’s an impression that hearing loss is bad or ruins your life or that there’s nothing you can do about it. All of these things are untrue, and they stop many individuals from seeking treatment.
However, this stigma is beginning to disappear as more people become open to their hearing loss. Many people understand that hearing loss isn’t some type of social failing, and the very small construction of modern hearing aids makes them easy to hide around folks who unfortunately will not let go of this stigma.
Regrettably, this perception of social stigma can cause individuals in the early stages of hearing loss to put off on getting the treatment they need leading to more serious permanent hearing loss.
How to deal with hearing loss-associated fatigue
There are frequently no apparent symptoms of early stage hearing loss. That’s why hearing specialists prefer to take a preventative approach rather than the far more difficult and less effective reactive method. Hearing specialists advocate for regular 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. Once this baseline is established, early intervention is often a lot 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:
- See a hearing specialist: It’s important to keep tabs on your hearing health. When hearing loss is in its early phases, your brain doesn’t have to work as hard as it does when the condition worsens, and a hearing specialist can diagnose hearing loss when it first begins to develop.
- Take breaks from conversations: Give yourself some quiet time to rest and refresh in between conversations. Your brain is working overtime to engage in conversation and brief rests will make that more sustainable.
- Try to have conversations in quieter places: When there is a lot of background noise, it can be challenging 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.
- If you use hearing aids, wear them as frequently as you can: 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 need to work as hard and you won’t experience the same level of fatigue.
So if you’re feeling an abnormal amount of exhaustion and tiredness, with no discernible cause, it may be time to plan a visit to your hearing specialist. You can lessen your fatigue and boost your energy by treating your hearing loss. Don’t let stigma cause your hearing loss to continue to be untreated.