Stress can lead to various health issues long-term. Those overall health issues can also have an impact on your hearing health, making the management of chronic stress more important.
How Stress Affects Hearing
The inner ear is sensitive to blood flow. The inner ear hair cells that carry sound signals to the brain need healthy access to oxygen. When circulation is affected, the hair cells become damaged and die. Then, you can no longer hear sounds of certain frequencies or in loud settings, such as conversations in Jittery Joe’s Coffee. Once your hearing is damaged, it cannot be repaired.
Any health condition that restricts your blood flow can impact your hearing. Heart disease and diabetes are both conditions that can impact your hearing health and stress plays a role in the development of both conditions. Poor circulation can also cause pulsatile tinnitus.
Stress And Tinnitus
Tinnitus is the perception of ringing, buzzing or other sounds in one or both ears. Tinnitus symptoms are often worse when undergoing stress. Tinnitus symptoms themselves often cause more stress because of the difficulty in hearing and the frustration of hearing the tinnitus sounds.
While reducing stress may not fully resolve tinnitus symptoms or restore your hearing, reducing stress or practicing stress management techniques can help protect your hearing and overall well-being.
Some recommended stress management techniques include:
- Taking breaks: Remove yourself from stressful situations for 20 minutes to help yourself feel less overwhelmed.
- Laugh and smile: The muscle movement of laughing and smiling will ease tension in the face and send happy signals to the brain.
- Exercise: Exercise promotes overall wellbeing, other healthy habits and works as a stress reliever.
- Get support: Talking to a friend or a professional can provide positive feedback or advice in stressful situations.
- Meditate: Meditation helps the mind and body relax.
If you ever feel you have insurmountable stress or anxiety, you should consult a doctor. The doctor can assist you with stress management techniques or even discuss medications with you.
If you’ve noticed a decline in your hearing, you can contact ENT of Athens to schedule a hearing test to get to the root cause. Protecting your hearing health now will also help to reduce overall stressors later in life.