As you most likely recognize, prolonged periods of stress are not healthy for the body. When you endure persistent stress, everything from serious muscle aches to headaches can be the outcome. But did you recognize 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 caused by a sinus infection, loud noises, and other factors. Let’s have a look at some potential causes.
Unhealthy Stress – How to Identify it
You may be asking yourself how stress lends to tinnitus. It’s often easy to ignore how extreme the medical impact of stress can be on our bodies. Disregarding stress isn’t a good idea.
Healthy Stress
Short term stress can actually be a really motivating factor when it comes to completing duties. Stress can supply a boost of energy and adrenalin to complete tasks and projects that really need to get done.
But short term, healthy stress and long term, harmful stress are two very different things. Healthy stress helps you reach a goal without harming your body. Unhealthy stress is hazardous for your body.
Unhealthy Stress
Unhealthy stress is a consequence of the fear of something that, more often than not, never in fact occurs. Unhealthy stress is created when an individual remains in a heightened state of anxiety for a long period of time.
Unhealthy stress relates to our “fight or flight” response, a normal reaction that helps keep us protected in dangerous conditions. When an individual stays in a hyper-stressful state for an extended period, it can lead to harmful physical symptoms.
Worrying
Worrying is a very universal cause of unhealthy stress. The importance of an interaction or situation can often be exaggerated. We may have ourselves convinced that we said or did something to ruin our chances at a promotion. When you worry like this your intrusive thoughts can really get away from you.
Unhealthy Stress And Intrusive Thoughts
We may believe that we are falling behind and failing to complete our everyday tasks. Fixation, endless internal dialog, and even panic are a common part of this type of stress. If we don’t take some positive steps to deal with this stress it will keep wearing down our body.
Typically, unhealthy stress impacts the upper part of the body by creating pain and muscle tension. The shoulders, neck, head, and jaw are areas that can be affected.
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? Jaw tension is a prevalent symptom of stress, anger, worry, and invasive thoughts.
Pressure can be put on the fragile bones of the eardrum and inner ear by continuous tension. Over time, this strain can result in ringing in your ears.
Sinus Infections And Ear Strain
Sinus infections bring many unwelcome symptoms, from a stuffy nose to a soar throat.
Sinus infections produce headaches, sinus pressure, and ear pressure. A ringing, clicking, or buzzing can be the outcome.
During a sinus infection, your nasal congestion frequently spreads to your ears. Clogging in the ears and severe pressure on the eardrum will build up because of the accumulated earwax this produces. Pressure on the fragile bones of the inner ear can cause tinnitus symptoms.
You may not need to go to a hearing specialist if the ringing is the result of a sinus infection, as the symptoms could improve 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 occasional music performance is probably not going to cause lasting ear-ringing. However, you may be putting stress on the sensitive parts of your ear if you frequently expose yourself to extremely loud sound.
When you expose your ears to loud noises regularly, your eardrums and the bones of the inner ears are strained, which can lead to buzzing, ringing, or clicking.
Beyond the periodic ringing in your ears, exposure to intense sounds over a prolonged period of time can trigger temporary or permanent hearing loss. Listening to music at a sensible volume and using ear protection when needed is indispensable for hearing health.
Safeguarding Your Hearing
Tinnitus is not something you should dismiss regardless of which one of these is the cause. Having your hearing examined by a hearing specialist regularly is the smartest thing you can do. For your peace of mind, you should get examined, especially if you think that your tinnitus is being triggered by a significant underlying medical issue.