You first notice the sound when you’re in bed attempting to sleep: a beating or maybe a throbbing, possibly a whooshing, right in your ear. The sound is beating at the same rhythm as your heartbeat. And once you hear that sound, you can’t tune it out. It keeps you awake, which is bad because you need your sleep and you have a big day tomorrow. Not only are you not feeling sleepy, you feel anxious.
Does this scenario sound familiar? Turns out, tinnitus, anxiety, and sleep are closely associated. A vicious cycle that deprives you of your sleep and affects your health can be the result.
Can tinnitus be caused by anxiety?
In general, ringing in the ears is the definition of tinnitus. But it’s not that simple. First of all, the actual sound you hear can take a wide variety of forms, from pulsing to throbbing to buzzing and so on. But the sound you’re hearing isn’t an actual outside sound. When people get stressed out, for many, tinnitus can appear.
For people who cope with feelings of fear or worry and anxiety, these feelings frequently interfere with their life because they have difficulty managing them. This can manifest in many ways physically, including as tinnitus. So can tinnitus be triggered by anxiety? Definitely!
What’s bad about this combo of anxiety and tinnitus?
There are a couple of reasons why this specific combination of tinnitus and anxiety can lead to bad news:
- Usually, nighttime is when most people really notice their tinnitus symptoms. Can ringing in the ears be caused by anxiety? Yes, but the ringing might have also been there during the day but your day-to-day activities simply covered up the symptoms. This can make falling asleep a bit tricky. And that insomnia can itself lead to more anxiety.
- You may be having a more severe anxiety attack if you begin to spike tinnitus symptoms. Once you’ve recognized the connection between anxiety and tinnitus, any time you experience tinnitus symptoms your anxiety could increase.
Often, tinnitus can begin in one ear and then change to the other. Sometimes, it can stick around 24/7–all day every day. There are other situations where it comes and goes. Whether continuous or intermittent, this combo of anxiety and tinnitus can have health consequences.
How does tinnitus-anxiety impact your sleep?
Your sleep loss could absolutely be the result of anxiety and tinnitus. Some examples of how are as follows:
- It can be challenging to ignore your tinnitus and that can be extremely stressful. If you’re laying there just trying to fall asleep, your tinnitus can become the metaphorical dripping faucet, keeping you awake all night. As your anxiety about not sleeping grows, the sound of the tinnitus symptoms can get louder and even more difficult to ignore.
- Your stress level will continue to rise the longer you go without sleeping. The more stressed you are, the worse your tinnitus will tend to become.
- Most people like it to be quiet when they sleep. You turn everything off because it’s bedtime. But when everything else is silent, your tinnitus can be much more noticeable.
When your tinnitus is due to anxiety, you may fear an anxiety attack is coming as soon as you hear that whooshing sound. It’s not surprising that you’re having trouble sleeping. The issue is that lack of sleep, well, sort of makes everything worse.
Health impacts of lack of sleep
As this vicious cycle keeps going, the health impacts of insomnia will become much more severe. And your overall wellness can be negatively impacted by this. Some of the most common effects include the following:
- Greater risk of cardiovascular disease: Over time, lack of sleep can begin to impact your long-term health and well-being. You could find yourself at an increased risk of heart disease or stroke.
- Inferior work performance: It should come as no surprise that if you can’t sleep, your job performance will become affected. Your thinking will be slower and your mood will be more negative.
- Slower reaction times: When you aren’t getting sufficient sleep, your reaction times are more lethargic. Driving and other daily activities will then be more dangerous. And it’s particularly hazardous if you operate heavy machinery, for example.
- Increased stress and worry: When you don’t sleep, it makes those anxiety symptoms already present even worse. A vicious cycle of mental health related symptoms can be the outcome.
Other causes of anxiety
Tinnitus, of course, is not the only source of anxiety. It’s essential to know what these causes are so you can try to avoid stress triggers and possibly decrease your tinnitus at the same time. Some of the most typical causes of anxiety include the following:
- Hyperstimulation: For some people, getting too much of any one thing, even a good thing, can cause an anxiety attack. Being in a crowded place, for instance, can cause some people to have an anxiety response.
- Medical conditions: You might, in some cases, have an increased anxiety response because of a medical condition.
- Stress response: When something causes us extreme stress, our bodies will naturally go into an anxious mode. That’s fantastic if you’re being chased by a lion. But it’s not so good when you’re dealing with an assignment for work. Sometimes, the association between the two is not obvious. Something that caused a stress response a week ago could cause an anxiety attack tomorrow. You may even have an anxiety attack in reaction to a stressor from last year, for instance.
Other causes: Some of the following, less common factors could also cause anxiety:
- Stimulant usage (that includes caffeine)
- Some recreational drugs
- Fatigue and sleep deprivation (see the vicious cycle once again)
- Lack of nutrition
This isn’t an all-inclusive list. And if you suspect you have an anxiety disorder, you should talk to your provider about treatment possibilities.
Dealing with anxiety-induced tinnitus
When it comes to anxiety-induced tinnitus, there are two basic options available. You can either try to address the anxiety or treat the tinnitus. In either case, here’s how that may work:
Treating anxiety
In general, anxiety disorders are managed in one of two ways:
- Cognitive-behavioral Therapy (CBT): Certain thought patterns can inadvertently exacerbate your anxiety symptoms and this method will help you recognize those thought patterns. Patients are able to better avoid anxiety attacks by interrupting those thought patterns.
- Medication: Medications may be used, in other situations, to make anxiety symptoms less prominent.
Treating tinnitus
There are a variety of ways to treat tinnitus and this is especially true if symptoms manifest primarily at night. Here are some common treatments:
- Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT): When you suffer from tinnitus, CBT strategies can help you create new thought patterns that accept, acknowledge, and reduce your tinnitus symptoms.
- Masking device: This is basically a white noise machine that you wear near your ear. This might help your tinnitus to be less obvious.
- White noise machine: When you’re attempting to sleep, use a white noise machine. This could help mask your tinnitus symptoms.
Addressing your tinnitus could help you sleep better
You’ll be at risk of falling into a vicious cycle of anxiety and tinnitus if the whooshing and ringing are keeping you awake at night. Dealing with your tinnitus first is one possible option. Contact us so we can help.
