What’s Causing That Frustrating Noise in my Ears?

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

It’s well known that stress, especially for prolonged periods, can be very hazardous for your body. When you are afflicted by chronic stress, everything from headaches to extreme muscle aches can be the outcome. But tinnitus, a buzzing, clicking, or ringing in the ears can also be the result.

Tinnitus can be brought about by numerous different health factors, such as stress, sinus infections, or loud sounds. Let’s have a look at several potential causes of that irritating ringing in your ears.

How to Recognize Unhealthy Stress

You may be wondering how stress contributes to tinnitus. It’s often easy to neglect how extreme the medical consequence of stress can be on our bodies. Stress is not something you should disregard.

Healthy Stress

Stress that lasts a few minutes, or even several hours, can actually play an important role in getting necessary tasks completed. If you’re dealing with a deadline and need to focus on accomplishing a project, stress can be an ally by providing the boost of energy required to finish the job.

But short term, healthy stress and long term, harmful stress are two completely different things. Healthy stress helps you complete a goal without damaging your body. Unhealthy stress is harmful for your body.

Unhealthy Stress

Unhealthy stress is a consequence of the fear of something that, in most cases, never in fact occurs. Unhealthy stress is created when an individual stays in a heightened state of anxiety for a long period of time.

In dangerous conditions, the fight or flight response is a natural reaction but it also is associates with unhealthy stress. When an individual stays in a hyper-stressful condition for an extended period of time, it can lead to harmful physical symptoms.

Worrying

Unhealthy stress is frequently caused by worrying. The importance of a relationship or situation can often be exaggerated. We may convince ourselves we wrecked a chance at a promotion because of something we said. When you worry like this your intrusive thoughts can really run away from you.

Unhealthy Stress And Invasive Thoughts

We may worry about what we didn’t get completed today and stress over what we have to do tomorrow. Obsession, unending internal dialog, and even panic attacks are a typical part of this type of stress. Ultimately, our unhealthy stress wears on our bodies if we don’t take steps to curb these thoughts.

Typically, unhealthy stress affects the upper part of the body by creating muscle tension and pain. Impacted areas may include the jaw, neck, head, or shoulders.

Jaw Tension And Anger

Have you ever heard someone depict their anger as jaw clenching? Jaw tension is a common symptom of stress, worry, anger, and invasive thoughts.

Sustained tension can put pressure on the delicate bones of the inner ear and eardrum. Ringing in the ears can be the outcome.

Sinus Infections And Ear Strain

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

Sinus pressure, headaches, and pressure in the ears are common symptoms of a sinus infection. These issues can trigger ringing, buzzing, and clicking in the ears.

Nasal congestion frequently spreads to the ears during the course of a sinus infection. This can produce excess earwax, which causes blockages in the ears and severe pressure on the eardrums. And with this comes ringing in the ears.

You might not need to go to a hearing specialist if the ringing is being caused by a sinus infection, as the symptoms may go away naturally. But you should absolutely make an appointment with us if the ringing continues for more than a few days.

Prolonged Exposure to Loud Noises

Lasting ringing in the ears will probably not occur due to the occasional concert. However, you could be putting stress on the fragile parts of your ear if you routinely expose yourself to intense sound.

When you expose your ears to loud noises on a regular basis, 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 loud sounds over a long period of time 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

Whether caused by stress, muscle tension, an illness, or loud noises, tinnitus shouldn’t be ignored. It’s best to have your ears tested by a hearing specialist regularly. If you think the ringing in your ears has a serious underlying medical cause, you should get them checked for your peace of mind.

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.