As you most likely know, prolonged periods of stress aren’t good for the body. When you suffer from chronic stress, everything from headaches to severe muscle aches can be the result. But did you know stress can also bring about 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 have a look at a few potential causes of that irritating ringing in your ears.
How to Recognize 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 lasts a few minutes, or even several hours, can actually play an important role in accomplishing demanding tasks. Stress can give a boost of energy and adrenalin to accomplish tasks and projects that really need to get done.
But short term, healthy stress and chronic, unhealthy stress are two completely different things. Healthy stress helps you accomplish 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 actually happens. When a person remains in a heightened state of anxiety, the consequence is frequently unhealthy stress.
Unhealthy stress relates to our “fight or flight” response, a natural reaction that helps keep us protected in dangerous situations. When an individual remains in a hyper-stressful condition for an extended period, it can lead to harmful physical symptoms.
Worrying
Unhealthy stress is commonly the result of worrying. We may exaggerate the importance of a situation or an interaction with another person. We might tell ourselves we wrecked a chance at a promotion because of something we said. When you worry like this your intrusive thoughts can really get away from you.
Invasive Thoughts And Unhealthy Stress
We may think that we are falling behind and failing to fulfill our daily schedule. Fixation, perpetual internal dialog, and even panic attacks are a typical part of this type of stress. If we don’t take a few positive steps 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 may include the head, neck, jaw, or shoulders.
Jaw Tension And Anger
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 commonly come with jaw strain.
Pressure can be put on the fragile bones of the eardrum and inner ear by continuous tension. Eventually, this strain can lead to ringing in your ears.
Sinus Infections And Ear Strain
From sore throats to stuffy noses, sinus infections produce lots of undesired symptoms.
Sinus infections produce headaches, sinus pressure, and pressure in the ears. These problems can trigger buzzing, clicking, or ringing in the ears.
A stuffy nose often spreads to the ears during the course of a sinus infection. This can create excessive earwax, which leads to blockages in the ears and intense pressure on the eardrums. Pressure on the tiny bones of the inner ear can lead to tinnitus symptoms.
If the ringing is triggered by a sinus infection it will probably clear up on its own and you won’t need to consult a hearing professional. If the ringing persists for more than a few days, however, you should schedule an appointment with a hearing professional.
Prolonged Exposure to Loud Noises
The occasional music performance probably won’t cause lasting ear-ringing. If you routinely expose your ears to very loud sounds, however, you may be putting stress on the tender areas of your ears.
Ringing, clicking, or buzzing can be the result when the eardrum and inner ears are put under the tremendous strain of continual exposure to loud noises.
Above and beyond tinnitus, temporary or even lasting hearing loss can be the outcome of continued exposure to loud noises. Listening to music at a reasonable volume and using ear protection when needed is crucial for hearing health.
Protecting Your Ears
Whether caused by stress, muscle tension, an illness, or loud noises, tinnitus is nothing to ignore. It’s best to have your ears tested by a hearing professional regularly. If you think the ringing in your ears has a serious underlying medical cause, you should have them examined for your peace of mind.
