Low Sodium Diet and Lifestyle Changes That Impact My Hearing
Last week, I talked about my experience with hearing loss and recovery. This week, I want to share more about some of the lifestyle changes I’ve made, especially eating a low sodium diet. These changes help me minimize the symptoms I feel since I experienced hearing loss. It’s not a perfect system, but it helps!
I’m not a medical professional and just want to share some of my tips. If you have any concerns about your health, please be sure to see a doctor.
After talking with an ENT over the course of several months, he recommended a couple of lifestyle changes. These changes include:
Reducing stress
Limiting alcohol
Limiting caffeine
Getting adequate sleep and rest
Reducing sodium consumption
Sometimes, when my symptoms from the hearing loss come back - such as dizzy spells, tinnitus, pain in my ear, or pressure changes - I can trace it to higher amounts of stress, not getting enough sleep, drinking alcohol or caffeinated beverages, or eating high sodium foods throughout the week. It’s not always foolproof, but by cleaning up my habits, I often feel an improvement in my health.
When it comes to reducing stress, we can’t all quit that awful job or wave a magic wand over our worries and make them disappear. So, do the best you can to limit stress and find techniques that can help you manage it, like taking walks, mindfulness, and deep breathing.
Getting good sleep is also important. A hack that’s been working for me is timing my sleep based on 90-minute increments (which is about how long some suggest a REM cycle lasts). So, if I want to wake up at 6am, I’ll try to fall asleep by 10:30pm or midnight.
Thankfully, I’m not a coffee drinker and have never been able to handle much caffeine, so I can limit this pretty easily. I try to drink lots of water instead to hydrate my body, which can sometimes help with alertness.
I can definitely be sensitive to alcohol and try to limit the drinks I have per day or week. I don’t drink much at all now, actually, but when I do, I try to hydrate a lot or have one or two drinks max. The next day, I sometimes feel pressure changes in my ear even if I had only one drink. So, I’ve just made peace with the fact that I might feel that glass of wine the next day. Make the decision that’s best for you!
Out of all these changes, I think limiting salt has been the hardest. It’s in everything!
Some of the changes I’ve made include reading nutrition labels really carefully, limiting my sodium to less than 2,300mg per day (usually), limiting how much take out I eat, meal prepping a lot to avoid unnecessary sodium, and substituting salt with herbs and spices. It can be frustrating sometimes, but I often do feel better when I make these changes.
I talk about reducing sodium in my diet in more detail here.
Be well and stay healthy!