Sleepless nights aren’t any fun. And when it occurs frequnetly, it’s particularly vexing. You lie awake tossing and turning, looking at the time over and over, and stressing about how tired you will be tomorrow. Medical professionals call this type of persistent sleeplessness “insomnia”. Over time, the effects of chronic insomnia will compound, negatively impacting your general health.
And, maybe not surprisingly, “your overall health” includes your hearing health. That’s correct, insomnia can have an affect on your ability to hear. Though the relationship between hearing loss and insomnia may not be a cause-and-effect situation, there’s still a connection there.
Can lack of sleep affect your hearing?
How could loss of sleep possibly impact your hearing? According to considerable research, your cardiovascular system can be influenced by insomnia over a long period of time. It becomes harder for your blood to flow into all of the extremities of your body when you don’t get the recuperative power of a good night’s sleep.
Anxiety and stress also increase with insomnia. Feeling stressed and anxious will impact you in physiological ways as well as mentally.
So, how does hearing loss play into that? Your ears work because they’re filled with delicate little hairs known as stereocilia. These fragile hairs vibrate when sound occurs and the information gets sent to your brain, which then translates those vibrations into sounds.
When your circulatory system is not functioning properly, these hairs have a difficult time remaining healthy. These hairs can, in some cases, be irreversibly damaged. And once that takes place, your hearing will be irrevocably damaged. Permanent hearing loss can be the outcome, and the longer the circulation problems continue, the worse the damage will be.
Is the opposite true?
If insomnia can affect your hearing health, can hearing loss stop you from sleeping? It’s definitely possible. Hearing loss can make the world really quiet, and some people like a little bit of sound when they sleep. This means that the quiet of hearing loss can sometimes prevent normal sleeping. Another way that hearing loss could cost you some sleep is if you find yourself stressed about losing your hearing.
If you have hearing loss, what can you do to get a good night’s sleep? Stress on your brain can be reduced by wearing your hearing aids every day because you won’t be wearing them while you sleep. It can also help if you implement some other sleep-health tips.
How to get a good night’s sleep
- Try not to utilize your bedroom for other activities other than sleeping: Try to minimize the amount of things you use your bedroom for. For instance, don’t do work in your bedroom.
- For at least 60 minutes, avoid looking at screens: (Really, the longer the better.) Your brain has a tendency to be activated by looking at screens.
- Get some exercise regularly: You could go to bed with some extra energy if you don’t get enough exercise. Being active every day can help.
- Avoid using alcohol before you go to bed: Your natural sleep cycle will be disrupted by drinking alcohol before bed.
- Try to de-stress as much as possible: It may not be possible to get rid of every stressor from your life, but giving yourself time to de-stress is essential. Do something relaxing before you go to bed.
- For at least a couple of hours before bed, try to avoid liquids: Each time you need to get up and go to the bathroom, you initiate the wake up process. So, sleeping through the night is much better.
- Don’t drink caffeine after midday.: Even if you drink decaf, it still has enough caffeine to give you problems sleeping. Soda also falls into this category.
Take care of your hearing health
You can still control your symptoms even if you have hearing loss along with some insomnia.
If you’re worried about your hearing, schedule an appointment with us today.
