It’s well known that stress, especially for prolonged stretches, can be very harmful to the body. When you are dealing with acute stress, everything from headaches to severe muscle aches can be the outcome. But did you realize stress can also bring about tinnitus, a ringing, buzzing, or clicking in the ears?
Stress isn’t the only thing that can cause tinnitus, it can also be brought about by a sinus infection, loud noises, and other variables. Let’s take a peak at some potential causes.
Unhealthy Stress – How to Recognize it
How does stress relate to tinnitus? We typically don’t think about the negative effect stress can have on our bodies or how it can cause frustrating, painful, or even serious medical conditions. Stress isn’t something you should ignore.
Healthy Stress
Temporary stress can actually be an extremely motivating factor with regards to accomplishing duties. Stress can provide a boost of energy and adrenalin to complete tasks and projects that really need to be finished.
There is a difference, though, between healthy, temporary stress and unhealthy, harmful stress. Healthy stress helps you complete a goal without harming your body. Unhealthy stress is hazardous for your body.
Unhealthy Stress
Often, an irrational fear is the source of unhealthy stress. Unhealthy stress is produced when a person remains in a heightened state of anxiety for a long period of time.
In hazardous conditions, the fight or flight response is a normal reaction but it also relates to unhealthy stress. When an individual stays in a hyper-stressful condition for a long period, it can lead to harmful physical symptoms.
Worrying
Worrying is an extremely 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 hurt our chances at a promotion. Unreasonable worrying can cause intrusive, apparently unmanageable thoughts.
Intrusive Thoughts And Unhealthy Stress
We might worry about what we didn’t get completed today and stress over what we have to do tomorrow. We might obsess, lecture ourselves, or even have panic attacks. If we don’t take a few positive steps to deal with this stress it will keep wearing down our body.
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 impacted.
Jaw Tension And Anger
Have you ever read a book where the writer portrays a character as being so angry his jaw clenched in rage? Stress, anger, worry, and invasive thoughts commonly come with jaw strain.
Pressure can be put on the fragile bones of the inner ear and eardrum by continuous tension. Ringing in the ears can be the consequence.
Ear Strain And Sinus Infections
Sinus infections bring many undesirable symptoms, from a soar throat to a stuffy nose.
Sinus infections generate headaches, sinus pressure, and ear pressure. These problems can lead to buzzing, clicking, or ringing in the ears.
When you have a sinus infection, your nasal congestion frequently spreads to your ears. This can create accumulated earwax, which leads to blockages in the ears and severe pressure on the eardrums. And with this comes ringing in the ears.
You might not need to visit a hearing professional if the ringing is being caused by a sinus infection, as the symptoms could go away on their own. But you should certainly schedule an appointment with us if the ringing continues for more than a few days.
Prolonged Exposure to Loud Noises
Lasting ringing in the ears will most likely not occur as a result of the occasional concert. However, you might be putting stress on the delicate parts of your ear if you frequently expose yourself to intense sound.
Ringing, clicking, or buzzing can be the result when the eardrum and inner ears are put under the incredible strain of repeated exposure to intense noises.
Above and beyond ringing in the ears, temporary or even lasting hearing loss can be the consequence of repeated exposure to loud noises. Listening to music at a reasonable volume and using ear protection when necessary is essential for hearing health.
Protecting Your Ears
Tinnitus is not something you should dismiss regardless of which one of these is the cause. Getting your hearing tested by a hearing professional frequently is your best bet. If you think the ringing in your ears has a serious underlying medical cause, you should get them examined for your peace of mind.