It’s not fun when you’re unable to sleep at night. Particularly when it occurs regularly. You lie awake tossing and turning, looking at the time over and over, and worrying about how exhausted you will be tomorrow. When these kinds of sleepless nights routinely happen, medical professionals tend to use the term “insomnia”. Over time, the effects of chronic insomnia will compound, negatively impacting your general health.
And the health of your hearing, not surprisingly, is part of your general health. Yup, your hearing can be negatively affected by insomnia! This isn’t necessarily a cause-and-effect relationship, but that doesn’t mean there’s no link between hearing loss and insomnia.
Can your hearing be impacted by lack of sleep?
What could the connection between hearing loss and sleep be? There’s a substantial amount of research that indicates insomnia, over time, can impact your cardiovascular system. It becomes more difficult for your blood to flow into all of the extremities of your body when you aren’t getting the recuperative power of a good night’s sleep.
Stress and anxiety also increase with insomnia. Being stressed and anxious are not only states of mind, they’re physiological states, too.
So how is that connected to hearing loss? There are tiny hairs inside of your ears called stereocilia. When sound waves vibrate these little hairs, signals are sent to your brain which translates these signals into sound.
When your circulatory system isn’t working correctly, these hairs have a hard time remaining healthy. In some cases, poor circulation can damage these hairs, permanently. And once that happens, your hearing will be irrevocably damaged. This can cause permanent hearing loss, especially the longer it persists.
Is the reverse true?
If insomnia can affect your hearing health, can hearing loss stop you from sleeping? It’s definitely possible. Hearing loss can make the environment very quiet, and some people like a little bit of sound when they try to sleep. This means that the quiet of hearing loss can sometimes prevent normal sleeping. Any kind of hearing loss anxiety (for example, if you’re worried about losing your hearing) can have a similar effect.
So how can you get a quality night’s sleep when you have hearing loss? Wearing your hearing aids every day can help reduce stress on your brain at night (when you’re not wearing them). Adhering to other sleep-health tips can also be helpful.
How to get a good night’s sleep
- Get some exercise regularly: You could go to bed with some excess energy if you don’t get enough exercise. Getting enough exercise every day can be really helpful.
- For at least 1 hour, avoid looking at screens: (Really, the longer the better.) Screens have a tendency to activate your brain
- Don’t drink caffeine after midday.: Even if you drink decaf, it still has enough caffeine to give you problems sleeping. This includes soda as well.
- Before bed, refrain from drinking alcohol: This will simply interrupt your natural sleep cycle.
- Maintain your bedroom for sleeping (mostly): Try to limit the amount of things you utilize your bedroom for. Working in your bedroom is not a great idea.
- Find ways to reduce stress: It might 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.
- Avoid drinking 2 hours before bed: Every time you need to get up and go to the bathroom, you initiate the wake up process. So, sleeping through the night is better.
Take care of your hearing health
You can still control your symptoms even if you have hearing loss along with some insomnia.
Make an appointment for a hearing exam today!