Anxiety comes in two varieties. There’s common anxiety, that sensation you get when you’re dealing with an emergency situation. And then there’s the type of anxiety that isn’t necessarily linked to any one worry or event. They feel anxious frequently, regardless of what you’re doing or thinking about. It’s more of a general sensation that seems to pervade the day. This sort of anxiety is normally more of a mental health problem than a neurological reaction.
Regrettably, both kinds of anxiety are harmful for the human body. It can be particularly damaging if you have extended or chronic anxiety. Your alert status is heightened by all of the chemicals that are produced during times of anxiety. It’s good in the short term, but damaging over a long period of time. Over the long run, anxiety that cannot be dealt with or controlled will start to manifest in certain physical symptoms.
Anxiety Has Distinct Physical Symptoms
Some symptoms of anxiety are:
- Nausea
- Fear about impending crisis
- Tiredness
- Loss of interest and depression
- Feeling like you’re coming out of your skin
- Panic attacks, shortness of breath and raised heart rate
- Bodily pain
But in some cases, anxiety is experienced in surprising ways. Anxiety can even effect vague body functions like your hearing. As an example, anxiety has been connected with:
- Tinnitus: Did you realize that stress not only worsens the ringing in your ears but that it can cause the development of that ringing. This is known as tinnitus (which, itself can have a variety of other causes too). For some, this might even reveal itself as a feeling that the ears are blocked or clogged.
- High Blood Pressure: And then there are a few ways that anxiety influences your body in exactly the way you’d expect it to. Elevated blood pressure is one of those. Known scientifically as hypertension, high blood pressure can have all kinds of negative secondary effects on you physically. It’s certainly not good. Dizziness, hearing loss and tinnitus can also be caused by high blood pressure.
- Dizziness: Persistent anxiety can occasionally make you feel dizzy, which is an issue that could also be related to the ears. Do not forget, the sense of balance is controlled by the ears (there are these three tubes in your inner ears that are controlling the sense of balance).
Anxiety And Hearing Loss
Generally on a hearing blog like this we would normally concentrate on, well, hearing. And your how well to hear. So let’s talk a little about how anxiety impacts your hearing.
The isolation is the primary issue. People tend to pull away from social activities when they suffer from hearing loss, tinnitus or balance issues. You may have experienced this with your own family. Perhaps a relative just stopped talking as much because they were embarrassed that they have to constantly repeat themselves. Issues with balance come with similar troubles. It can be difficult to admit to your friends and family that you have a difficult time driving or even walking because you have balance troubles.
There are also other ways anxiety and depression can result in social isolation. When you don’t feel yourself, you won’t want to be around other people. Sadly, one can end up feeding the other and can turn into an unhealthy loop. The negative effects of isolation can happen quickly and will bring about several other issues and can even result in mental decline. For someone who struggles with anxiety and hearing loss, battling against that shift toward isolation can be even more challenging.
Getting The Correct Treatment
Hearing Loss, Tinnitus, anxiety and isolation can all feed each other. That’s why finding the right treatment is so important.
All of the symptoms for these ailments can be assisted by getting treatment for your tinnitus and hearing loss. And when it comes to depression and anxiety, interacting with others who can relate can be extremely helpful. At the very least, dealing with these symptoms can help with the sense of isolation that might make prolonged anxiety more severe. In order to determine what treatments will be most effective for your situation, talk to your doctor and your hearing specialist. Depending on what your hearing test shows, the right treatment for hearing loss or tinnitus may involve hearing aids. And for anxiety, medication and other types of therapy could be required. Tinnitus has also been found to be effectively treated by cognitive-behavioral therapy.
Here’s to Your Health
We know, then, that anxiety can have very real, very serious consequences for your physical health and your mental health.
Isolation and cognitive decline have also been recognized as a repercussion of hearing loss. Coupled with anxiety, that’s a recipe for, well, a challenging time. Luckily, we have treatments for both conditions, and getting that treatment can make a huge, positive difference. Anxiety doesn’t need to have long lasting effects on your body and the impact of anxiety on your body can be counteracted. The sooner you find treatment, the better.