It’s well known that stress, particularly for prolonged amounts of time, can be very harmful 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, such as stress, sinus infections, or loud noises. Let’s take a peak at some potential causes.
How to Distinguish Unhealthy Stress
You may be wondering how stress lends to tinnitus. It’s often easy to take for granted how serious the medical consequence of stress can be on our bodies. Stress is not something you should neglect.
Healthy Stress
Stress that persists a few minutes, or even several hours, can actually play an important role in getting necessary tasks completed. If you’re facing a deadline and have to focus on completing a project, stress can be an ally by supplying the boost of energy needed to get the job done.
But temporary, healthy stress and long term, harmful stress are two very different things. Healthy stress helps you reach a goal without damaging your body. Unhealthy stress is hazardous for your body.
Unhealthy Stress
Usually, an irrational fear is the source of unhealthy stress. Unhealthy stress is generated when an individual stays in a heightened state of anxiety for a long period of time.
In dangerous situations, the fight or flight response is a normal reaction but it also is associates with unhealthy stress. When a person remains in a hyper-stressful condition for a long period of time, it can lead to harmful physical symptoms.
Worrying
Unhealthy stress is frequently caused by worrying. We might exaggerate the importance of a situation or a relationship with other people. We might have ourselves convinced that we said or did something to ruin our chances at a promotion. Unreasonable worrying can cause invasive, seemingly unmanageable thoughts.
Invasive Thoughts And Unhealthy Stress
We may believe that we are falling behind and failing to fulfill our daily tasks. Fixation, perpetual internal dialog, and even panic are a common part of this type of stress. If we don’t take a few positive measures to manage this stress it will keep wearing down our body.
Pain and muscle tension on the upper body are common effects of unhealthy stress. Impacted areas might include the jaw, neck, head, or shoulders.
Anger And Jaw Tension
Have you ever read a book where the author talks about a character as being so angry his jaw clenched in rage? Jaw tension is a common symptom of stress, anger, worry, and invasive thoughts.
Sustained tension can put pressure on the delicate bones of the inner ear and eardrum. Eventually, this strain can cause ringing in your ears.
Ear Strain And Sinus Infections
Sinus infections cause many unwelcome symptoms, from a soar throat to a stuffy nose.
Sinus infections produce sinus pressure, headaches, and ear pressure. A buzzing, clicking and ringing can be the outcome.
Nasal congestion often spreads to the ears during the course of a sinus infection. This can produce excessive earwax, which causes clogged ears and intense pressure on the eardrums. Pressure on the little bones of the inner ear can lead to tinnitus symptoms.
If the ringing is caused by a sinus infection it will most likely go away on its own and you won’t have to consult a hearing specialist. But you should absolutely schedule an appointment with us if the ringing persists for more than a few days.
Extended Exposure to Loud Noises
Lasting ringing in the ears will most likely not manifest as a result of the occasional concert. If you repeatedly expose your ears to very loud sounds, however, you could be introducing stress to the tender areas of your ears.
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 ringing in the ears, temporary or even lasting hearing loss can be the result of continued exposure to loud sounds. It’s crucial to protect your hearing 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 shouldn’t be ignored. It’s best to get your ears checked by a hearing professional on a regular basis. If you think the ringing in your ears has a significant underlying medical cause, you should get them examined for your peace of mind.