It’s not fun when you can’t sleep at night. And when it occurs on a regular basis, it’s particularly vexing. You toss and turn and maybe stare at the clock (or your phone) and worry about just how exhausted you’ll be the next day. When these kinds of sleepless nights persistently happen, medical professionals tend to use the term “insomnia”. Over time, the effects of persistent insomnia will compound, negatively impacting your general health.
And the health of your hearing, not surprisingly, is part of your overall health. Yup, your hearing can be negatively impacted 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 lack of sleep affect your hearing?
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 affect your cardiovascular system. Without the nightly recuperative power of sleep, it’s more difficult for your blood to get everywhere it needs to be.
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 delicate little hairs called stereocilia. When waves of sound 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 thriving. In some cases, poor circulation can damage these hairs, permanently. And once that happens, your hearing will be irrevocably damaged. Permanent hearing loss can be the outcome, and the longer the circulation problems continue, the more significant the damage will be.
Is the reverse true?
Is it possible for hearing loss to cause you to lose sleep? Yes, it can! Many individuals prefer a little background sound when they try to sleep and hearing loss can make your environment really quiet. For people in this group, that amount of silence can make it really hard to get a quality night’s sleep. Any kind of hearing loss anxiety (for instance, if you’re worried about losing your hearing) can have a similar impact.
If you have hearing loss, what can you do to get a quality night’s sleep? Wearing your hearing aids during the day can help lessen stress on your brain at night (when you’re not wearing them). Following other sleep-health tips can also be helpful.
Some guidelines for a good night’s sleep
- Quit drinking caffeine after noon: Even if you drink decaf, it still has enough caffeine to give you problems sleeping. Soda also fits into this category.
- Find ways to alleviate stress: It might not be possible to remove every stressor from your life, but giving yourself time to unwind is critical. Do something relaxing before bed.
- For at least 1 hour, abstain from looking at screens: (Even longer if you can!) Screens have a tendency to activate your brain
- Exercise regularly: You may go to bed with some excess energy if you don’t get enough exercise. Getting enough exercise every day will be really helpful.
- Maintain your bedroom for sleeping (mostly): Your bedroom is for sleeping in, so try to maintain that habit. For instance, don’t do work in your bedroom.
- Avoid drinking alcohol before you go to bed: This will simply interrupt your natural sleep cycle.
- For at least a couple of hours before you go to bed, try to abstain from liquids: Each time you need to get up and go to the bathroom, you begin the wake up process. So, sleeping through the night is much better.
Be aware of the health of your hearing
Even if you’ve experienced some insomnia-associated symptoms in the past, and have some hearing loss, your symptoms can still be controlled.
Schedule an appointment for a hearing exam today!