Sleepless nights are no fun. Particularly when it happens regularly. You lie awake tossing and turning, looking at the time over and over, and worrying about how exhausted you will be tomorrow. Medical professionals call this sort of chronic sleeplessness “insomnia”. With insomnia, the drawbacks of not sleeping will then start to add up and can, over time, have a negative impact on your general health.
And, maybe not surprisingly, “your overall health” includes the health of your hearing. Yup, your hearing can be negatively impacted by insomnia! Though the relationship between hearing loss and insomnia may not be a cause-and-effect scenario, there’s still a link there.
Can your hearing be affected by lack of sleep?
How could loss of sleep possibly affect your hearing? According to significant research, your cardiovascular system can be influenced by insomnia over a long period of time. Without the nightly renewing 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 stressed and anxious will impact you in physiological ways as well as mentally.
So, how does hearing loss play into that? There are tiny hairs inside of your ears known as stereocilia. When waves of sound 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 happens, your hearing will be permanently damaged. This can result in permanent hearing loss, especially the longer it persists.
Is the reverse true?
If insomnia can impact your hearing health, can hearing loss stop you from sleeping? Yes, it can! Hearing loss can make the world really quiet, and some people like a little bit of sound when they sleep. For people in this group, that amount of quiet can make it very hard to get a good 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 every day can help minimize stress on your brain at night (when you aren’t wearing them). Following other sleep-health tips can also help.
How to get a good night’s sleep
- For at least 2 hours before bed, try to abstain from liquids: Needing to get up and go to the bathroom can start the “wake up” process in your brain. It’s much better to sleep right through the night.
- Find ways to relieve stress: Get away from work and do something soothing before bed.
- Steer clear of screens for at least 60 minutes before going to bed: (Even longer if you can!) Screens have a tendency to stimulate your brain
- Avoid drinking alcohol before you go to bed: 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 isn’t a great idea.
- Get some exercise regularly: Your body needs to move, and if you aren’t moving, you may end up going to bed with some excess energy. 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 too.
Take care of your hearing health
You can still manage your symptoms even if you have hearing loss along with some insomnia.
Schedule an appointment for a hearing exam today!
