It’s well known that stress, particularly for extended stretches, can be extremely harmful for your body. When you are dealing with acute stress, everything from headaches to extreme muscle aches can be the result. But did you recognize stress can also trigger tinnitus, a ringing, buzzing, or clicking in the ears?
Stress isn’t the only thing that can cause tinnitus, it can also be caused by a sinus infection, loud noises, and other variables. Let’s have a look at some potential factors.
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
Short term stress can actually be a very motivating factor when it comes to accomplishing tasks. If you’re dealing with a deadline and have to focus on accomplishing a project, stress can be an ally by providing the boost of energy necessary to get the job done.
But temporary, healthy stress and long term, unhealthy stress are two completely different things. The ability to complete goals can be helped by healthy stress while unhealthy stress can physically harm you.
Unhealthy Stress
Unhealthy stress is a consequence of the fear of something that, in most cases, never actually occurs. When an individual remains in a heightened state of anxiety, the consequence is usually unhealthy stress.
Unhealthy stress relates to our “fight or flight” response, a natural reaction that helps keep us protected in dangerous conditions. Harmful physical symptoms happen when somebody remains in a hyper-stressful situation for prolonged periods.
Worrying
Unhealthy stress is frequently caused by worrying. We might exaggerate the importance of a situation or an interaction with another person. We may have ourselves convinced that we did or said something to spoil our chances at a promotion. When you worry in this way your intrusive thoughts can really run away from you.
Unhealthy Stress And Intrusive Thoughts
We might believe that we are falling behind and failing to fulfill our daily schedule. We may obsess, lecture ourselves, or even have panic attacks. Eventually, our unhealthy stress wears on our bodies unless we do something to curb these thoughts.
Pain and muscle tension on the upper body are common effects of unhealthy stress. Impacted areas may include the jaw, neck, head, or shoulders.
Anger And Jaw Tension
Have you ever heard someone depict their anger as jaw clenching? Jaw strain is a prevalent symptom of stress, anger, worry, and invasive thoughts.
Sustained tension can put pressure on the delicate bones of the inner ear and eardrum. Over time, this strain can lead to ringing in your ears.
Ear Strain And Sinus Infections
Sinus infections bring many unfavorable symptoms, from a soar throat to a stuffy nose.
Headaches, sinus pressure, and pressure in the ears are common symptoms of a sinus infection. A buzzing, clicking and ringing can be the result.
Nasal congestion often spreads to the ears during the course of a sinus infection. Blockage in the ears and extreme pressure on the eardrum will build up because of the excessive earwax this causes. And with this comes ringing in the ears.
You may not need to see a hearing professional if the ringing is being caused by a sinus infection, as the symptoms may clear up by themselves. If the ringing lasts for more than a few days, however, you should make an appointment with a hearing professional.
Extended Exposure to Loud Noises
Long-term ringing in the ears will most likely not develop due to the occasional concert. However, you may be putting stress on the sensitive parts of your ear if you routinely expose yourself to intense sound.
When you expose your ears to intense noises frequently, your eardrums and the bones of the inner ears are strained, which can produce buzzing, ringing, or clicking.
Beyond the periodic ringing in your ears, exposure to loud sounds over a prolonged period of time can lead to temporary or lasting loss of hearing. It’s important to safeguard your ears from the elements and listen to music at a reasonable volume level.
Protecting Your Hearing
Whether caused by stress, muscle tension, an illness, or loud noises, tinnitus is nothing to ignore. Getting your hearing checked by a hearing specialist regularly is your best bet. If you suspect the ringing in your ears has a serious underlying medical cause, you should have them checked for your peace of mind.