As you probably appreciate, prolonged periods of stress are not healthy for the body. Stress can cause extreme muscle pain and headaches. But did you realize stress can also trigger tinnitus, a ringing, buzzing, or clicking in the ears?
Tinnitus can be triggered by many different health factors, such as stress, sinus infections, or loud sounds. Let’s examine several potential causes of that aggravating noise in your ears.
Unhealthy Stress – How to Recognize it
You may be asking yourself how stress contributes to tinnitus. We generally don’t consider the negative influence stress can have on our bodies or how it can result in troublesome, painful, or even severe medical conditions. Stress isn’t something you should neglect.
Healthy Stress
Stress that persists a few minutes, or even several hours, can actually play an important role in accomplishing demanding tasks. Stress can provide a boost of energy and adrenalin to complete tasks and projects that really need to be finished.
There is a difference, though, between healthy, short-term stress and unhealthy, damaging stress. Healthy stress helps you reach a goal without harming your body. Unhealthy stress is harmful for your body.
Unhealthy Stress
Unhealthy stress is a consequence of the fear of something that, more often than not, never actually happens. Unhealthy stress is generated when an individual stays in a heightened state of anxiety for an extended period of time.
In dangerous situations, the fight or flight response is a normal reaction but it also is associates with unhealthy stress. When someone remains in a hyper-stressful state for a long period, it can lead to harmful physical symptoms.
Worrying
Worrying is a very universal cause of unhealthy stress. The significance of an interaction or situation can often be exaggerated. We may tell ourselves we destroyed a chance at a promotion because of something we said. When you worry in this way your invasive thoughts can really run away from you.
Invasive Thoughts And Unhealthy Stress
We may think that we are falling behind and failing to fulfill our everyday tasks. Fixation, perpetual internal dialog, and even panic are a typical part of this kind of stress. If we don’t take some positive steps to manage this stress it will continue to wear down our body.
Typically, unhealthy stress impacts the upper part of the body by producing muscle tension and pain. The shoulders, neck, head, and jaw are areas that can be impacted.
Anger And Jaw Tension
Have you ever heard someone depict their anger as jaw clenching? Jaw strain is a prevalent symptom of stress, worry, anger, and invasive thoughts.
Pressure can be put on the fragile bones of the inner ear and eardrum by sustained tension. Ringing in the ears can be the result.
Sinus Infections And Ear Strain
Sinus infections cause lots of unfavorable symptoms, from a soar throat to a stuffy nose.
Sinus pressure, headaches, and pressure in the ears are common symptoms of a sinus infection. These problems can lead to buzzing, clicking, or ringing in the ears.
When you have a sinus infection, your nasal congestion often spreads to your ears. Clogging in the ears and extreme pressure on the eardrum will build up because of the excessive earwax this produces. Pressure on the fragile bones of the inner ear can trigger tinnitus symptoms.
You might not need to see a hearing specialist if the ringing is being caused by a sinus infection, as the symptoms could clear up by themselves. But you should certainly schedule an appointment with us if the ringing lasts for more than a few days.
Extended Exposure to Loud Noises
The intermittent music concert is probably not going to cause long-term ear-ringing. However, you could be putting stress on the fragile parts of your ear if you frequently expose yourself to intense sound.
When you expose your ears to intense noises regularly, your eardrums and the bones of the inner ears are strained, which can result in ringing, buzzing, or clicking.
Beyond the periodic ringing in your ears, exposure to intense sounds over a long period of time can trigger temporary or lasting loss of hearing. It’s essential to safeguard your hearing from the elements and listen to music at a reasonable volume level.
Protecting Your Ears
Whether caused by stress, muscle tension, an illness, or loud noises, tinnitus shouldn’t be ignored. It’s best to get your ears tested by a hearing professional 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 problem.