There are two types of anxiety. When you are involved with an emergency situation, that feeling that you get is called common anxiety. Some people experience anxiety even when there are no distinct situations or concerns to link it to. They feel anxious frequently, regardless of what you’re doing or thinking about. It’s more of a general feeling that seems to pervade the day. This type of anxiety is normally more of a mental health issue than a neurological response.
Regrettably, both forms of anxiety are harmful for the human body. Extended periods of chronic anxiety can be particularly negative. When it feels anxiety, your body secretes all sorts of chemicals that heighten your alert status. For short periods, when you genuinely need them, these chemicals are a good thing but they can be damaging if they are produced over longer time periods. Specific physical symptoms will begin to manifest if anxiety can’t be treated and remains for longer periods of time.
Physical Symptoms of Anxiety
Some symptoms of anxiety are:
- Paranoia about impending crisis
- Nausea
- Loss of interest and depression
- General pain or soreness in your body
- A racing heart or difficulty breathing commonly connected to panic attacks
- Tiredness
- A feeling of being agitated or aggravated
But chronic anxiety doesn’t necessarily manifest in the ways that you might anticipate. Anxiety can even impact vague body functions such as your hearing. For example, anxiety has been linked to:
- High Blood Pressure: And a few of the consequences of anxiety are not at all unexpected. In this case, we’re talking about elevated blood pressure. Known medically as hypertension, high blood pressure can have really negative effects on the body. It’s certainly not good. High blood pressure has also been recognized to lead to hearing loss, tinnitus and dizziness.
- Tinnitus: Did you realize that stress not only worsens tinnitus but that it can also be responsible for the onset of that ringing. This is known as tinnitus (which, itself can have many other causes too). For a few, this may even reveal itself as a feeling of blockage or clogging of the ears.
- Dizziness: Prolonged anxiety can occasionally cause dizziness, which is an issue that could also be related to the ears. Keep in mind, the sense of balance is controlled by the ears (there are these three tubes inside of your inner ears that are controlling the sense of balance).
Anxiety And Hearing Loss
Generally on a hearing blog such as this we would usually focus on, well, hearing. And your ability to hear. With that in mind, you’ll excuse us if we take a little time to talk about how hearing loss and anxiety can feed one another in some relatively disturbing ways.
First and foremost, there’s the isolation. When a person has tinnitus, hearing loss or even balance issues, they tend to withdraw from social interactions. Maybe you’ve experienced this with someone you know. Maybe your mother or father got tired of asking you what you said, or didn’t want to deal with the embarrassment of not understanding and so they stopped talking so much. The same goes for balance problems. It can be tough to admit to your friends and family that you have a difficult time driving or even walking because you have balance troubles.
There are also other reasons why depression and anxiety can result in social isolation. When you don’t feel yourself, you won’t want to be around other people. Sadly, one can end up feeding the other and can become an unhealthy loop. That feeling of isolation can set in quickly and it can lead to a variety of other, closely related problems, including decline of cognitive function. For somebody who struggles with anxiety and hearing loss, fighting against that shift toward isolation can be even more challenging.
Figuring Out How to Properly Treat Your Hearing Loss Troubles
Hearing Loss, Tinnitus, anxiety and isolation can all feed on each other. That’s why getting the right treatment is so crucial.
All of the symptoms for these disorders can be assisted by getting treatment for your tinnitus and hearing loss. And when it comes to depression and anxiety, connecting with others who can relate can be very helpful. Prolonged anxiety is more serious when there is an overwhelming sense of separation and managing the symptoms can help with that. Seek advice from your general practitioner and hearing specialist to look at your possibilities for treatment. Hearing aids may be the best option as part of your treatment depending on what your hearing test reveals. And for anxiety, medication and other kinds of therapy may be required. Tinnitus has also been shown to be successfully treated with cognitive-behavioral therapy.
Here’s to Your Health
We understand, then, that anxiety can have very real, very serious consequences for your physical health and your mental health.
Isolation and cognitive decline have also been recognized as a repercussion of hearing loss. When you add anxiety to the recipe, you can have a pretty challenging situation. Thankfully, we have treatments for both conditions, and obtaining that treatment can make a big, positive difference. The health affects of anxiety don’t have to be permanent. What anxiety does to your body doesn’t need to last. The sooner you find treatment, the better.
