There are numerous possible causes of fatigue, everything from not being able to sleep at night to respiratory issues like sleep apnea. But many individuals are surprised to learn that persistent tiredness and exhaustion can also be due to something relatively common: hearing loss.
In part, 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 recognize the symptoms of early hearing loss. This experience can be very frustrating. This exhaustion can frequently 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 tiredness and exhaustion.
Hearing loss moves gradually (and your brain compensates)
Hearing loss is normally a gradually progressing condition that grows worse over time. In its early stages, you probably 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 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. Regrettably, many people don’t instinctively associate 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 harder to make sense of it all. Just as prolonged periods of intense concentration can leave you tired, the additional brain power needed to hear what people are saying can be exhausting. Your ability to complete daily tasks and your total quality of life can be considerably affected over time as your neglected hearing loss grows worse.
The role of stigma
So when people begin to feel tired, why wouldn’t they simply consult a hearing specialist? One partial reason is that individuals just don’t connect tiredness with hearing loss. But the notion of stigma is another cause which can be even more damaging. There’s a feeling that hearing loss is terrible or ruins your life or that there’s nothing that can be done about it. All of these things are false, and they stop many individuals from finding treatment.
However, this stigma is starting to fade away as more people become open to their hearing loss. It’s becoming a more prevalent understanding that hearing loss can happen to people of all ages and today’s hearing aids are small enough that the few people who can’t get over this stigma won’t even notice them.
Regrettably, this perception of social stigma can cause people in the early stages of hearing loss to avoid getting the treatment they need resulting in more severe permanent hearing loss.
How to manage hearing loss-associated fatigue
The earliest phases of hearing loss might not have any apparent symptoms. That’s why hearing specialists favor taking a preventative approach instead of the far more challenging and less effective reactive approach. Hearing specialists recommend regular screenings in order to establish a baseline of your healthy hearing, that way they will be capable of identifying changes to your hearing in subsequent screenings. Early treatment will be much more effective once we have identified that baseline.
If your hearing loss is causing fatigue, there are some steps you can take to minimize that exhaustion as much as possible. Here are several of the most prevalent and easiest steps:
- Try to find more quiet, isolated areas for conversations: When there is a lot of background noise, it can be difficult 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 attempting to hear, lessening fatigue in the process.
- Be certain you use your hearing aids as frequently as you can: One of the primary functions of hearing aids is to clarify human speech, making understanding conversations much easier. This means your brain won’t need to work as hard and you won’t experience the same level of fatigue.
- Schedule a consultation 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.
- Take breaks from conversations: In between conversation, take a quiet rest somewhere. Your brain is working overtime to take part in conversation and brief breaks will make that more sustainable.
It’s probably time to schedule an appointment with a hearing specialist if you’re experiencing fatigue with no evident cause. You can lessen your fatigue and boost your energy by treating your hearing loss. Don’t neglect your hearing loss because you’re concerned about the stigma.
