It’s well known that stress, particularly for extended amounts of time, can be extremely hazardous to the body. When you endure persistent stress, everything from severe muscle aches to headaches can be the result. But did you realize stress can also lead to tinnitus, a ringing, buzzing, or clicking in the ears?
Tinnitus can be caused by various different health factors, such as stress, sinus infections, or loud sounds. Let’s take a peak at some potential causes.
Unhealthy Stress – How to Recognize it
How does stress relate to tinnitus? It’s often easy to neglect how extreme the medical impact of stress can be on our bodies. Ignoring stress is a bad idea.
Healthy Stress
Stress that persists a few minutes, or even several hours, can actually be helpful in getting necessary tasks completed. Stress can provide a boost of energy and adrenalin to accomplish tasks and projects that really need to be finished.
But short term, healthy stress and long term, harmful stress are two completely different things. The ability to complete goals can be assisted by healthy stress while unhealthy stress can physically harm you.
Unhealthy Stress
Unhealthy stress is caused by the fear of something that, generally, never in fact happens. Unhealthy stress is produced when an individual remains in a heightened state of anxiety for an extended period of time.
Unhealthy stress relates to our “fight or flight” response, a natural reaction that helps keep us safe in dangerous conditions. Harmful physical symptoms happen when someone stays in a hyper-stressful situation for extended periods.
Worrying
Worrying is a really universal cause of unhealthy stress. We may exaggerate the significance of a situation or an interaction with other people. We may have ourselves convinced that we did or said something to ruin our chances at a promotion. Too much worrying can produce intrusive, apparently uncontrollable thoughts.
Invasive Thoughts And Unhealthy Stress
We may think that we are falling behind and failing to accomplish our daily schedule. We might obsess, lecture ourselves, or even have panic attacks. Eventually, our unhealthy stress wears on our bodies if we don’t take steps to curtail these thoughts.
Usually, unhealthy stress affects the upper part of the body by creating pain and muscle tension. The head, neck shoulders, and jaw are areas that can be affected.
Jaw Tension And Anger
Have you ever heard someone describe their anger as jaw clenching? Stress, worry, anger, and invasive thoughts often come with jaw tension.
Continuous tension can put pressure on the delicate bones of the eardrum and inner ear. Eventually, this strain can lead to ringing in your ears.
Sinus Infections And Ear Strain
From sore throats to stuffy noses, sinus infections bring lots of unwelcome symptoms.
Sinus pressure, headaches, and pressure in the ears are common symptoms of a sinus infection. A ringing, clicking, or buzzing can be the result.
During a sinus infection, your nasal congestion often spreads to your ears. This can generate accumulated earwax, which leads to blockages in the ears and severe pressure on the eardrums. And with this comes ringing in the ears.
If the ringing is brought on by a sinus infection it will most likely go away by itself and you won’t have to consult a hearing specialist. But you should absolutely make an appointment with us if the ringing lasts for more than a few days.
Prolonged Exposure to Loud Noises
The intermittent music concert probably won’t cause lasting ear-ringing. If you regularly expose your ears to very loud sounds, however, you may be putting stress on the tender parts of your ears.
When you expose your ears to intense noises frequently, your eardrums and the bones of the inner ears are strained, which can produce ringing, buzzing, or clicking.
Beyond the occasional ringing in your ears, exposure to loud sounds over a long period of time can trigger temporary or lasting hearing loss. Listening to music at a reasonable volume and wearing ear protection when needed is essential for hearing health.
Safeguarding Your Ears
Whether caused by stress, muscle tension, an illness, or loud noises, tinnitus is nothing to ignore. Having your hearing checked by a hearing specialist regularly is your best bet. For your peace of mind, you should get checked, particularly if you suspect that your tinnitus is being triggered by a serious underlying medical issue.
