It’s not fun when you’re unable to sleep at night. Particularly when it happens regularly. You toss and turn and maybe stare at the clock (or your phone) and worry about just how fatigued you’ll be the next day. When these types of sleepless nights routinely occur, medical professionals tend to use the term “insomnia”. With insomnia, the negatives of not sleeping will then begin to compound and can, over time, have a negative influence on your overall health.
And the health of your hearing, not unexpectedly, is part of your overall health. That’s correct, insomnia can have an affect on your ability to hear. Though the relationship between hearing loss and insomnia may not be a cause-and-effect scenario, there’s still a connection there.
Can lack of sleep impact your hearing?
What could the link between hearing loss and sleep be? There’s a considerable amount of research that suggests insomnia, over a long enough period, can affect your cardiovascular system. Without the nightly renewing power of sleep, it’s harder for your blood to get everywhere it needs to be.
Anxiety and stress also increase with insomnia. Feeling stressed and anxious 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 tiny hairs, signals are transmitted to your brain which translates these signals into sound.
When your circulatory system isn’t working correctly, these hairs have a hard time remaining healthy. These hairs can, in some instances, be irreversibly damaged. Damage of this type is permanent. Permanent hearing loss can be the result, and the longer the circulation problems persist, the more significant the damage will be.
Does it also work the other way around?
If insomnia can impact your hearing health, can hearing loss stop you from sleeping? It’s certainly possible. Hearing loss can make the environment very quiet, and some individuals like a little bit of noise when they sleep. For people in this category, that amount of quiet can make it really hard to get a good night’s sleep. Any kind of hearing loss stress (for instance, if you’re stressed 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? Stress on your brain can be reduced by wearing your hearing aids during the day because you won’t be wearing them at night. Following other sleep-health tips can also be helpful.
How to get a quality night’s sleep
- Keep 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.
- Get some exercise regularly: You could go to bed with some excess energy if you don’t get enough exercise. Being active every day can be helpful.
- Try to de-stress as much as possible: Get away from work and do something relaxing before bed.
- Quit drinking caffeine after midday: Even if you drink decaf, it still has enough caffeine to give you problems sleeping. This includes soda also.
- For at least 2 hours before bed, try to avoid liquids: Needing to get up and go to the bathroom can begin the “wake up” process in your brain. So, sleeping through the night is much better.
- Before you go to bed, avoid drinking alcohol: Your existing sleep cycle will be interrupted by drinking alcohol before bed.
- For at least 1 hour, avoid looking at screens: (Even longer if possible!) Your brain has a tendency to be stimulated by looking at screens.
Take care of your hearing health
Even if you’ve experienced some insomnia-associated symptoms in the past, and have some hearing loss, your symptoms can still be controlled.
If you’re worried about your hearing, set up an appointment with us today.