Gilberts Audiology & Hearing Aid Center - Oklahoma

Woman with tinnitus and ringing in her ears getting a headache.

It’s common knowledge that stress, especially for prolonged amounts of time, can be extremely harmful to the body. Stress can cause significant muscle aches and headaches. But did you recognize stress can also result in 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 factors. Let’s have a look at some potential causes.

How to Recognize Unhealthy Stress

How does stress relate to tinnitus? It’s often easy to neglect how serious the medical impact of stress can be on our bodies. Stress isn’t something you should ignore.

Healthy Stress

Stress that persists a few minutes, or even a few hours, can actually be helpful in accomplishing demanding tasks. If you’re dealing with a deadline and have to focus on completing a project, stress can be an ally by supplying the boost of energy required to get the job done.

But short term, healthy stress and long term, unhealthy stress are two very different things. The ability to complete goals can be helped by healthy stress while unhealthy stress can physically harm you.

Unhealthy Stress

Unhealthy stress is caused by the fear of something that, more often than not, never actually happens. Unhealthy stress is produced when an individual remains in a heightened state of anxiety for an extended period of time.

In hazardous conditions, the fight or flight response is a normal reaction but it also relates to unhealthy stress. When a person stays in a hyper-stressful state for an extended period, it can result in harmful physical symptoms.

Worrying

Worrying is a very common cause of unhealthy stress. We might exaggerate the importance of a situation or a relationship with other people. We may have ourselves convinced that we did or said something to spoil our chances at a promotion. Excessive worrying can produce intrusive, seemingly unmanageable thoughts.

Unhealthy Stress And Intrusive Thoughts

We may believe that we are falling behind and failing to complete our everyday schedule. Fixation, endless internal dialog, and even panic attacks are a common part of this type of stress. Inevitably, our unhealthy stress wears on our bodies if we don’t take measures to curb these thoughts.

Normally, unhealthy stress impacts the upper part of the body by causing muscle tension and pain. The shoulders, neck, head, and jaw are areas that can be impacted.

Jaw Tension And Anger

Have you ever heard someone express their anger as jaw clenching? Jaw strain is a prevalent symptom of stress, anger, worry, and invasive thoughts.

Continuous strain can put pressure on the fragile bones of the inner ear and eardrum. Ringing in the ears can be the result.

Sinus Infections And Ear Strain

From sore throats to stuffy noses, sinus infections bring lots of unwelcome symptoms.

Sinus infections produce headaches, sinus pressure, and ear pressure. A buzzing, clicking and ringing can be the outcome.

During a sinus infection, your nasal congestion often spreads to your ears. This can create accumulated earwax, which leads to blockages in the ears and intense pressure on the eardrums. And with this comes ringing in the ears.

If the ringing is brought on by a sinus infection it will probably clear up by itself and you won’t need to see a hearing specialist. If the ringing continues for more than a few days, however, you should make an appointment with a hearing professional.

Prolonged Exposure to Loud Noises

The intermittent music performance probably won’t cause lasting ear-ringing. However, you may be putting stress on the fragile parts of your ear if you routinely expose yourself to intense sound.

Ringing, clicking, or buzzing can be the consequence when the eardrum and inner ears are put under the incredible strain of continual exposure to loud noises.

Above and beyond tinnitus, temporary or even lasting hearing loss can be the result of repeated exposure to loud sounds. It’s essential to protect your hearing from the elements and listen to music at a sensible volume level.

Safeguarding Your Hearing

Tinnitus is not something you should dismiss whichever one of these is causing it. Having your hearing examined by a hearing professional regularly is your best bet. If you think the ringing in your ears has a significant hidden medical cause, you should have them checked for your peace of mind.

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The site information is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. To receive personalized advice or treatment, schedule an appointment.
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