Is Exercise Bad for Your Hearing?

Exercise has so many health benefits. It positively impacts almost every organ in your body from your heart to your brain, but what about your hearing? Well, there’s good and bad news about exercise and the impact it has on hearing. As part of the Nurse’s Health Study, researchers looked at the effect of physical activity on hearing loss. The results indicate that women who were more active had a lower risk for hearing loss relative to those who were sedentary. As little as two hours of walking per week was associated with a lower risk for hearing loss.

So the bad news? Depending upon where you exercise and what you do when you work out, exercise could also be bad for your hearing. Do you turn up the music when you exercise to stay motivated or pipe music directly into your ears by wearing earbuds? If so, you may be undoing some of the hearing benefits of your sweat sessions. Loud music can damage the hair cells in your inner ear and lead to hearing loss, as can wearing earbuds because they place sound closer to your inner ear. The louder you turn up the volume and the longer you listen to loud music, the greater the risk to your hearing.

Do you take exercise classes? A study carried out by National Acoustic Laboratories showed the noise level in some fitness classes, especially spin and circuit workout classes, is almost close to that of a jet plane taking off. At such high noise levels, you can sustain damage with only short periods of exposure, as little as 15 or 20 minutes.

How can you limit the damage? Rather than listen to music while you work out, use exercise time as a chance to unwind in silence or even meditate. If you take an exercise class, talk to the instructor about reducing the noise level a bit or consider wearing custom hearing protection during class.

References:

Curhan, S. G., Eavey, R., Wang, M., Stampfer, M. J., & Curhan, G. C. (2013). BMI, waist circumference, physical activity and risk of hearing loss in women. The American Journal of Medicine, 126(12), 1142. doi: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2013.04.026

The Sydney Morning Herald. “Deaf to the Dangers of Loud Gym Music.” Retrieved from https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/diet-and-fitness/deaf-to-the-dangers-of-loud-gym-music-20130405-2hbqd.html