It’s well known that stress, especially for extended periods, can be extremely hazardous for your body. When you suffer from acute stress, everything from extreme muscle aches to headaches can be the outcome. But did you know stress can also trigger tinnitus, a ringing, buzzing, or clicking in the ears?
Stress isn’t the only thing that can trigger tinnitus, it can also be brought about by a sinus infection, loud noises, and other variables. Let’s take a look at a few potential causes of that annoying ringing in your ears.
Unhealthy Stress – How to Identify it
You might be wondering how stress contributes to tinnitus. It’s often easy to ignore how extreme the medical impact of stress can be on our bodies. Disregarding stress is a bad idea.
Healthy Stress
Stress that lasts a few minutes, or even several hours, can actually be helpful in getting necessary tasks completed. Stress can provide a boost of energy and adrenalin to complete tasks and projects that really need to get done.
There is a difference, though, between healthy, temporary stress and unhealthy, destructive stress. The ability to accomplish goals can be assisted by healthy stress while unhealthy stress can physically harm you.
Unhealthy Stress
Usually, an irrational fear is the source of unhealthy stress. Unhealthy stress is created when a person stays in a heightened state of anxiety for an extended period of time.
Unhealthy stress is associates with our “fight or flight” response, a natural reaction that helps keep us safe in hazardous situations. When someone remains in a hyper-stressful state for an extended period of time, it can lead to harmful physical symptoms.
Worrying
Worrying is a very common cause of unhealthy stress. The significance of an interaction or situation can often be exaggerated. We might tell ourselves we ruined a chance at a promotion because of something we said. When you worry in this way your intrusive thoughts can really run away from you.
Invasive Thoughts And Unhealthy Stress
We might worry about what we couldn’t accomplish today and stress over what we have to get done tomorrow. Obsession, endless internal dialog, and even panic are a typical part of this kind of stress. If we don’t take a few positive steps to deal with this stress it will continue to wear down our body.
Pain and muscle tension on the upper body are common effects of unhealthy stress. Affected areas could include the head, neck, jaw, or shoulders.
Anger And Jaw Tension
Have you ever read a book where the author describes a character as being so angry his jaw clenched in rage? Stress, worry, anger, and invasive thoughts frequently come with jaw strain.
Continuous tension can put pressure on the delicate bones of the eardrum and inner ear. Over time, this strain can lead to ringing in your ears.
Sinus Infections And Ear Strain
From sore throats to stuffy noses, sinus infections bring about lots of unwelcome symptoms.
Sinus pressure, headaches, and pressure in the ears are typical symptoms of a sinus infection. A buzzing, clicking and ringing can be the outcome.
During a sinus infection, your nasal congestion frequently spreads to your ears. This can create excessive earwax, which causes blockages in the ears and intense 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 professional if the ringing is the result of a sinus infection, as the symptoms could improve naturally. But you should certainly make an appointment with us if the ringing persists for more than a few days.
Prolonged Exposure to Loud Noises
Long-term ringing in the ears will most likely not manifest as a result of the occasional concert. If you routinely expose your ears to very loud sounds, however, you may be putting stress on the tender parts of your ears.
Buzzing, Clicking, or ringing can be the outcome when the eardrum and inner ears are put under the enormous strain of frequent exposure to intense noises.
Beyond the intermittent ringing in your ears, exposure to intense sounds over a long period of time can result in temporary or lasting loss of hearing. Listening to music at a reasonable volume and using ear protection when necessary is crucial for hearing health.
Protecting Your Ears
Whether caused by stress, muscle tension, an illness, or loud noises, tinnitus shouldn’t be ignored. It’s best to have your ears tested by a hearing specialist regularly. For your peace of mind, you should get checked, particularly if you think that your tinnitus is being triggered by a significant underlying medical issue.