It’s no fun when you can’t sleep at night. Especially when it occurs regularly. You lie awake tossing and turning, looking at the time again and again, and worrying about how exhausted you will be tomorrow. Medical professionals call this type of chronic sleeplessness “insomnia”. With insomnia, the negatives of not sleeping will then begin to compound and can, after a while, have a negative affect on your overall health.
And the health of your hearing, not surprisingly, is part of your overall health. Yup, your hearing can be negatively impacted by insomnia! Though the relationship between hearing loss and insomnia might not be a cause-and-effect scenario, there’s still a link there.
Can your hearing be impacted by lack of sleep?
How could loss of sleep possibly impact your hearing? There’s a significant amount of research that indicates insomnia, over time, can affect your cardiovascular system. It becomes more difficult for your blood to flow into all of the extremities of your body when you don’t get the renewing power of a good night’s sleep.
Insomnia also means an increase in anxiety and stress. Feeling anxious and stressed will impact you in physiological ways as well as mentally.
So, how does hearing loss play into that? There are little hairs inside of your ears called stereocilia. When sound waves vibrate these little hairs, signals are transmitted to your brain which translates these signals into sound.
These little hairs have a difficult time staying healthy when there are circulatory issues. In some situations, poor circulation can damage these hairs, permanently. Damage of this type is permanent. This can result in permanent hearing loss, especially the longer it continues.
Does it also work the other way around?
If insomnia can affect your hearing health, can hearing loss stop you from sleeping? It’s absolutely possible. Many people prefer a little background noise when they try to sleep and hearing loss can make your environment very quiet. For people in this group, that amount of silence can make it really difficult to get a good night’s sleep. 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 during the day can help reduce stress on your brain at night (when you aren’t wearing them). It can also help if you follow some other sleep-health tips.
Some recommendations for a good night’s sleep
- Try not to use your bedroom for other activities other than sleeping: Try to minimize the amount of things you utilize your bedroom for. For instance, don’t do work in your bedroom.
- Get some exercise regularly: You might go to bed with some extra energy if you don’t get enough exercise. Being active every day can help.
- Don’t drink caffeine after midday.: Even if you drink decaf, it still has enough caffeine to give you trouble sleeping. This includes soda as well.
- Steer clear of screens for at least 1 hour before going to bed: (Actually, the longer the better.) Your brain tends to be activated by looking at screens.
- For at least a couple of hours before you go to bed, try to abstain from liquids: Needing to get up and go to the bathroom can initiate the “wake up” process in your brain. So, sleeping through the night is much better.
- Avoid using alcohol before you go to bed: This will simply disrupt your natural sleep cycle.
- Try to de-stress as much as possible: Get away from work and do something relaxing before bed.
Take care of your hearing health
Even if you’ve experienced some insomnia-related symptoms before, and have some hearing loss, your symptoms can still be managed.
Schedule an appointment for a hearing exam today!
