Nearly every article you read about improving your health includes a reminder to stay active and keep up your exercise. When it comes to fitness, the trend in our Western culture seems to be more is better and almost too much is best. But could upping the ante at the gym cause the unwanted side effect of hearing loss?
No strain in this game
The way CrossFit swept the nation is a pretty good example of the ways in which incredibly challenging workouts are becoming commonplace in today’s fitness culture. This high intensity workout blends a number of training scenarios, including weight lifting, to create a program that encourages competition and extreme effort in its participants. And that trend isn’t just contained to the CrossFit craze, programs emphasizing extreme effort can be found in many of today’s fitness modalities.
Those grunts and groans coming from the folks putting 200% into their workout? That’s the sound that often indicates strain. Strain can result in temporary hearing loss in few different ways. Too much straining can cause pressure within the brain, leading to pressure within the ears. With this type of pressure, normal blood flow is interrupted and your ears don’t receive the necessary amounts to maintain healthy hearing.
In some cases, hearing loss during a high intensity workout is a result of a condition called Large Vestibular Aqueduct Syndrome (LVAS). Too much strain during a workout is also the tipping point for people with LVAS, taking what would have been a good sweat session into more dangerous territory.
The lesson here? If you experience temporary hearing loss during your workout, or any other interruption in a healthy system, you should take that as a sign to ease up a little.
Add ear protection to your gym bag
There’s a lot of external noise associated with the gym, too. A booming soundtrack seems to be as essential to a standard gym as a treadmill. While it might be a great motivational tool, it’s not a great idea to spend too much time at the gym when the sound system is cranked up too high. Because asking them to lower the volume might not get you anywhere, remember to bring a pair of earplugs or noise cancelling headphones with you to the gym. This way, you can make sure that your hearing is just as healthy as your heart when you walk out the gym doors.
It’s not just the soundtrack that you want to drown out with a set of earplugs. Standing too close to weight machines or spending a huge amount of time in the weight room may also result in damaged hearing. The noisy clanking of weights being dropped on the floor or against each other can be incredibly loud!
Weight rooms aren’t the only fitness noises to be aware of. If you play in a sports league, you know that the shrill whistles of the officials can be piercing. Don’t forget that long term exposure to loud, repetitive sounds can cause noise induced hearing loss. People with hearing loss that are looking to halt the decline of their auditory systems and those who wish to protect against future hearing loss will want to limit their exposure to much of these sounds.
When you’re in control
Don’t forget about the role you yourself play in turning up the volume. We’ve all been in the middle of a great workout when our favorite song comes on. The obvious reaction is to turn up the volume in a major way. It’s also a tried and true method of motivation when we just need to grit our teeth through that last set or mile. But what is the real cost?
Pay attention to the volume levels on your listening devices at the gym. Mentally set a limit that you won’t cross before your workout even begins so that you won’t be tempted in the heat of the moment to crank up the volume.
Don’t let a focus on the circumference of your waist or biceps override the health of your hearing. Intense exercise sessions that result in temporary hearing loss or require your headphones to be playing at maximum volume might give you the fleeting impression of better health, but your hearing might be a long-term victim of such extreme effort.
Are you concerned you may be experiencing hearing loss? You don’t have to live with untreated hearing loss. Contact us at Hearing Wellness Solutions today for a hearing test.