It’s common knowledge that stress, especially for extended amounts of time, can be extremely hazardous to the body. Stress can cause significant muscle pain and headaches. But tinnitus, a clicking, buzzing, or ringing in the ears can also be the outcome.
Tinnitus can be triggered by many different health factors, including stress, sinus infections, or loud sounds. Let’s take a look at several potential causes of that aggravating noise in your ears.
How to Recognize Unhealthy Stress
How does stress relate to tinnitus? We often don’t consider the negative impact stress can have on our bodies or how it can cause troublesome, painful, or even serious medical problems. Stress isn’t something you should neglect.
Healthy Stress
Temporary stress can actually be a really motivating factor with regards to completing tasks. Stress can supply a boost of energy and adrenalin to accomplish tasks and projects that really need to get done.
But short term, healthy stress and chronic, harmful stress are two completely different things. The ability to accomplish 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, generally, never in fact happens. When an individual remains in a heightened state of anxiety, the outcome is often unhealthy stress.
Unhealthy stress relates to our “fight or flight” response, a natural reaction that helps keep us protected in hazardous situations. Harmful physical symptoms occur when someone stays in a hyper-stressful circumstance for prolonged periods.
Worrying
Worrying is a really common cause of unhealthy stress. The importance of an interaction or situation can often be exaggerated. We may tell ourselves we ruined a chance at a promotion because of something we said. Too much worrying can lead to invasive, apparently unmanageable thoughts.
Intrusive Thoughts And Unhealthy Stress
We might think that we are falling behind and failing to accomplish our everyday schedule. Obsession, endless internal dialog, and even panic attacks are a common part of this type of stress. If we don’t take some positive steps to deal with this stress it will continue to wear down our body.
Pain and muscle tension on the upper body are normal effects of unhealthy stress. Impacted areas could include the jaw, neck, head, or shoulders.
Jaw Tension And Anger
Have you ever heard someone describe their anger as jaw clenching? Jaw strain is a prevalent symptom of stress, anger, worry, and invasive thoughts.
Continuous tension can put pressure on the fragile bones of the eardrum and inner ear. Over time, this strain can lead to ringing in your ears.
Ear Strain And Sinus Infections
Sinus infections cause lots of unwelcome symptoms, from a stuffy nose to a soar throat.
Sinus pressure, headaches, and pressure in the ears are common symptoms of a sinus infection. These problems can produce ringing, buzzing, and clicking in the ears.
If you have a sinus infection, your nasal congestion often spreads to your ears. This can generate excessive earwax, which causes clogged ears and extreme pressure on the eardrums. Pressure on the fragile bones of the inner ear can trigger tinnitus symptoms.
You may not need to visit a hearing specialist if the ringing is being caused by a sinus infection, as the symptoms could go away naturally. If the ringing continues for more than a few days, however, you should make an appointment with a hearing professional.
Extended Exposure to Loud Noises
The intermittent music show is probably not going to cause long-term ear-ringing. 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 loud noises on a regular basis, your eardrums and the bones of the inner ears are strained, which can produce ringing, buzzing, or clicking.
Above and beyond tinnitus, temporary or even permanent hearing loss can be the outcome of repeated exposure to loud noises. It’s important to protect your ears from the elements and listen to music at a reasonable volume level.
Safeguarding Your Hearing
Tinnitus isn’t something you should disregard regardless of which one of these is causing it. Getting your hearing tested by a hearing specialist regularly is your best bet. For your peace of mind, you should get examined, especially if you suspect that your tinnitus is being triggered by a serious underlying medical issue.
