It’s no fun when you can’t sleep at night. And when it happens frequnetly, it’s especially vexing. You toss and turn and maybe stare at the clock (or your phone) and stress about just how exhausted you’ll be the next day. Medical professionals call this kind of chronic sleeplessness “insomnia”. Over time, the effects of chronic insomnia will compound, negatively impacting your overall health.
And, perhaps not surprisingly, “your overall health” includes the health of your hearing. That’s correct, insomnia can have an impact on your ability to hear. Though the relationship between hearing loss and insomnia might not be a cause-and-effect situation, there’s still a connection there.
Can your hearing be impacted by lack of sleep?
What could the relationship between hearing loss and sleep be? There’s a considerable amount of research that indicates insomnia, over a long enough period, can impact your cardiovascular system. It becomes harder for your blood to circulate into all of the extremities of your body when you aren’t getting the recuperative power of a good night’s sleep.
Insomnia also means an increase in anxiety and stress. Feeling anxious and stressed will affect you in physiological ways as well as mentally.
So how is that connected to hearing loss? Your ears work because they’re filled with fragile little hairs called stereocilia. When sound waves vibrate these little hairs, signals are transmitted to your brain which translates these signals into sound.
These tiny hairs have a hard time staying healthy when there are circulatory problems. These hairs can, in some cases, be irreversibly damaged. And once that takes place, your hearing will be permanently damaged. Permanent hearing loss can be the outcome, and the longer the circulation issues persist, the worse the damage will be.
Is the opposite true?
If insomnia can impact your hearing health, can hearing loss stop you from getting a good night’s sleep? Yes, it can! Many individuals prefer a little background sound when they try to sleep and hearing loss can make your environment very quiet. This means that the quiet of hearing loss can in some cases prevent normal sleeping. Another way that hearing loss may 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? Wearing your hearing aids every day can help minimize stress on your brain at night (when you’re not wearing them). Following other sleep-health tips can also be helpful.
How to get a good night’s sleep
- Before bed, refrain from drinking alcohol: This will simply disrupt your natural sleep cycle.
- Don’t drink caffeine after midday.: Even decaf coffee has enough caffeine in it to keep you up at night if you drink at night. Soda also falls into this category.
- Get some exercise regularly: Your body needs to move, and if you aren’t moving, you might end up going to bed with some excess energy. Getting enough exercise daily can really be helpful.
- Try to avoid drinking liquids a couple of hours before you go to bed: Each time you need to get up and go to the bathroom, you start the wake up process. It’s much better to sleep right through the night.
- Steer clear of screens for at least an hour before bed: (Even longer if you can!) Your brain tends to be activated by looking at screens.
- Keep your bedroom for sleeping (mostly): Your bedroom is for sleeping in, so try to maintain that habit. For instance, don’t work in your bedroom.
- Find ways to reduce stress: It might not be possible to eliminate every stressor from your life, but giving yourself time to de-stress is crucial. Do something relaxing before you go to bed.
Be aware of the health of your hearing
You can still control your symptoms even if you have hearing loss along with some insomnia.
If you’re worried about your hearing, make an appointment with us today.