Sleepless nights aren’t any fun. Particularly when it happens regularly. You lie awake tossing and turning, checking the time over and over, and worrying about how exhausted you will be tomorrow. Medical professionals call this type of chronic sleeplessness “insomnia”. Over time, the effects of chronic insomnia will compound, negatively impacting your general health.
And the health of your hearing, not unexpectedly, is part of your general health. Yup, your hearing can be negatively affected by insomnia! This isn’t exactly a cause-and-effect relationship, but that doesn’t mean there’s no link between hearing loss and insomnia.
Can your hearing be affected by lack of sleep?
How could loss of sleep possibly impact your hearing? There’s a substantial amount of research that suggests insomnia, over a long enough period, can impact your cardiovascular system. Without the nightly regenerative power of sleep, it’s harder for your blood to get everywhere it needs to be.
Insomnia also means an increase in stress and anxiety. 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 known as stereocilia. When sound waves vibrate these little hairs, signals are sent to your brain which translates these signals into sound.
These tiny hairs have a hard time remaining healthy when there are circulatory problems. In some situations, poor circulation can damage these hairs, permanently. Damage of this type is permanent. Permanent hearing loss can be the result, and the longer the circulation issues persist, the worse the damage will be.
Does it also work the other way around?
Is it possible for hearing loss to cause you to lose sleep? Yes, it can! Many people favor a little background noise when they try to sleep and hearing loss can make your environment really quiet. For people in this category, that amount of quiet can make it really difficult to get a quality night’s sleep. Another way that hearing loss may cost you some sleep is if you find yourself anxious about losing your hearing.
If you have hearing loss, what can you do to get a quality night’s sleep? Wearing your hearing aids every day can help minimize stress on your brain at night (when you aren’t wearing them). It can also be helpful if you implement some other sleep-health tips.
How to get a good night’s sleep
- Avoid screens for at least 1 hour before going to bed: (Even longer if you can!) Screens have a tendency to stimulate your brain
- Before bed, refrain from drinking alcohol: This will simply disrupt your existing sleep cycle.
- Don’t drink caffeine after lunch.: Even if you drink decaf, it still has enough caffeine to give you trouble sleeping. Soda also falls into this category.
- Keep your bedroom for sleeping (mostly): Try to limit the amount of things you use your bedroom for. Working in your bedroom isn’t a great plan.
- Try to avoid drinking 2 hours before you go to bed: Having to get up and go to the bathroom can begin the “wake up” process in your brain. So, sleeping through the night is better.
- Try to de-stress as much as possible: It might not be possible to remove every stressor from your life, but giving yourself time to de-stress is crucial. Do something relaxing before you go to bed.
- Get some exercise regularly: You may go to bed with some extra energy if you don’t get enough exercise. Being active every day can be helpful.
Care for your hearing health
Even if you have experienced some insomnia-associated symptoms before, and have some hearing loss, your symptoms can still be controlled.
If you’re worried about your hearing, make an appointment with us today.
