Fatigue can have a wide range of causes, ranging from a simple sleepless night to respiratory problems like sleep apnea. But there is something more common that can also cause tiredness and that’s hearing loss.
That’s at least partly due to the fact that hearing loss normally develops slowly over time. You might not immediately recognize the symptoms and, as a result, you may feel as though you’re constantly tired for no reason. This can be a frustrating experience. This exhaustion can often turn into irritability which could cause you to socially seclude yourself. Luckily, your energy levels will normally improve once you get your hearing loss treated.
Hearing loss moves slowly (and your brain compensates)
Hearing loss is normally a gradually advancing condition that grows worse over time. In its early phases, you likely won’t even detect that you’re developing hearing loss. If you aren’t specifically watching for them, even conspicuous symptoms, like turning the volume on your audio devices way up, can be easy to overlook.
One of the harder to miss symptoms of hearing loss is often exhaustion. Regardless of how much rest you get, you could still feel fatigued. Regrettably, many people don’t instinctively connect this symptom 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 overtime to make sense of it all. In the same way as sustained periods of intense concentration can leave you worn out, the extra brain power needed to hear what people are saying can be exhausting. Left neglected, this fatigue can grow worse over time, impacting your quality of life and your ability to complete daily routine activities.
The role of stigma
So why don’t more individuals just visit a hearing specialist when they start feeling tired? One partial explanation is that people just don’t connect tiredness with hearing loss. But there’s another reason that might inevitably be more detrimental: stigma. Individuals often feel as if others will think they’re old if they have hearing loss and that acknowledging it will ruin their lives. People will frequently avoid pursuing treatment because of these false ideas.
However, this stigma is beginning to disappear as more people become open to their hearing loss. Many individuals understand that hearing loss is not some type of social failing, and the very small construction of modern hearing aids makes them easy to hide around folks who sadly 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 need to.
Treatment options for hearing loss-related fatigue
The earliest stages of hearing loss may not have any evident symptoms. That makes it challenging to effectively take a reactive approach, and it’s why many hearing specialists favor preventative approaches. Hearing specialists advocate for regular screenings in order to create a baseline of your healthy hearing, that way they will be able to identify changes to your hearing in subsequent screenings. Once this baseline is achieved, 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. Here are several of the most common and simplest steps:
- Give yourself a rest in between conversations: In between conversation, take a quiet break somewhere. Your brain is working extra hard to take part in conversation and brief rests will make that more sustainable.
- Be certain you wear your hearing aids as often as you can: One of the primary functions of hearing aids is to clarify human speech, making understanding conversations a lot easier. This means you won’t be as tired because your brain won’t have to work so hard.
- Try to locate more quiet, secluded places for conversations: When there is a lot of background noise, it can be difficult to sort out voices, even with hearing aids in some circumstances. It will be easier, and less exhausting, to understand conversations if you move them to a quieter place.
- Consult a hearing specialist: It’s important to keep tabs on your hearing health. 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 have to work as hard to compensate.
It’s probably time to make an appointment with a hearing specialist if you’re experiencing exhaustion with no apparent cause. 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.