It’s common knowledge that stress, particularly for extended amounts of time, can be very harmful to the body. Stress can cause serious muscle aches and headaches. But tinnitus, a clicking, buzzing, or ringing in the ears can also be the outcome.
Tinnitus can be triggered by various different health factors, such as stress, sinus infections, or loud noises. Let’s have a look at some potential causes.
How to Distinguish Unhealthy Stress
How does stress relate to tinnitus? We generally don’t think about the negative effect stress can have on our bodies or how it can result in frustrating, painful, or even severe medical conditions. Stress isn’t something you should neglect.
Healthy Stress
Short term stress can actually be an extremely motivating factor when it comes to accomplishing duties. If you’re dealing with a deadline and need to focus on completing a project, stress can be an ally by supplying the boost of energy necessary to finish the job.
But temporary, healthy stress and long term, harmful stress are two very different things. Healthy stress helps you reach a goal without harming your body. Unhealthy stress is hazardous for your body.
Unhealthy Stress
Normally, an irrational fear is the cause of unhealthy stress. When someone stays in a heightened state of anxiety, the consequence is often unhealthy stress.
In hazardous situations, the fight or flight response is a natural reaction but it also relates to unhealthy stress. When a person stays in a hyper-stressful state for a long period of time, it can result in harmful physical symptoms.
Worrying
Unhealthy stress is often the result of worrying. We might exaggerate the importance of a situation or an interaction with other people. We might have ourselves convinced that we did or said something to hurt our chances at a promotion. Unreasonable worrying can cause invasive, apparently unmanageable thoughts.
Invasive Thoughts And Unhealthy Stress
We might believe that we are falling behind and failing to fulfill our day-to-day routine. We might obsess, talk to ourselves, or even have panic attacks. If we don’t take a few positive measures to deal with this stress it will continue to wear down our body.
Typically, unhealthy stress affects the upper part of the body by producing pain and muscle tension. Affected areas might include the jaw, neck, head, or shoulders.
Anger And Jaw Tension
Have you ever read a book where the writer 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 eardrum and inner ear. Eventually, this strain can lead to ringing in your ears.
Ear Strain And Sinus Infections
From sore throats to stuffy noses, sinus infections produce lots of unwelcome symptoms.
Headaches, sinus pressure, and pressure in the ears are typical symptoms of a sinus infection. These issues can lead to ringing, buzzing, and clicking 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 causes. And with this comes ringing in the ears.
You may not need to see a hearing specialist if the ringing is the result of a sinus infection, as the symptoms may improve naturally. But you should definitely schedule an appointment with us if the ringing lasts for more than a few days.
Prolonged Exposure to Loud Noises
The occasional music concert is probably not going to cause lasting ear-ringing. However, you could be putting stress on the sensitive parts of your ear if you regularly expose yourself to extremely loud sound.
Ringing, clicking, or buzzing can be the consequence when the eardrum and inner ears are put under the incredible strain of repeated exposure to loud noises.
Beyond the occasional ringing in your ears, exposure to loud sounds over a prolonged period can result in temporary or lasting hearing loss. Listening to music at a reasonable volume and wearing ear protection when necessary is essential for hearing health.
Safeguarding Your Hearing
Tinnitus is not something you should neglect regardless of which one of these is the cause. Getting your hearing tested by a hearing specialist frequently is your best bet. If you think the ringing in your ears has a significant underlying medical cause, you should have them checked for your peace of mind.