Is my Anxiety Creating my Tinnitus and Sleep Problems?

Woman can't sleep at night because she's suffering from tinnitus and anxiety

You first notice the sound when you’re in bed attempting to sleep: Your ear has a whooshing or pulsating in it. The sound is rhythmic and tuned in to your heartbeat. And once you hear that sound, you can’t tune it out. You have a big day tomorrow and you really need your sleep so this is no good. And all of a sudden you feel very anxious, very not sleepy.

Does this seem familiar? Anxiety, tinnitus, and sleep, as it so happens, are closely linked. And you can understand how tinnitus and anxiety could easily conspire to create a vicious cycle, one that deprives you of your sleep, your rest, and can affect your health.

Can anxiety cause tinnitus?

Generally, ringing in the ears is the definition of tinnitus. But it’s a bit more complicated than that. First of all, the actual noise you hear can take a large number of shapes, from pulsing to throbbing to ringing and so on. But the sound you’re hearing isn’t an actual external sound. For many people, tinnitus can occur when you’re feeling stressed out, which means that stress-related tinnitus is absolutely a thing.

An anxiety disorder is a condition where feelings of fear, worry, or (as the name implies) anxiety are hard to control and strong enough to hinder your daily life. This can materialize in many ways physically, that includes as tinnitus. So can anxiety cause tinnitus? Certainly!

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:

  • Most people tend to experience tinnitus more frequently at night. Can anxiety cause ringing in the ear? Yes, but the ringing may 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 more anxiety can come from not sleeping.
  • Tinnitus can often be the first sign of a more significant anxiety attack (or similar occurrence). Once you’ve made this association, any occurrence of tinnitus (whether due to anxiety or not) could cause a spike in your overall anxiety levels.

There are instances where tinnitus can manifest in one ear and eventually move to both. There are some instances where tinnitus is continuous day and night. There are other situations where it comes and goes. Whether continuous or sporadic, this combo of anxiety and tinnitus can have health consequences.

How does tinnitus-anxiety impact your sleep?

So, yes, anxiety-related tinnitus could definitely be contributing to your sleep troubles. Some examples of how are as follows:

  • It can be challenging to ignore your tinnitus and that can be very stressful. If you’re laying there just attempting to fall asleep, your tinnitus can become the metaphorical dripping faucet, keeping you up all night. As your anxiety about not sleeping increases, the sound of the tinnitus symptoms can grow louder and even more difficult to ignore.
  • Most individuals like it to be quiet when they sleep. It’s nighttime, so you turn everything off. But when everything else is quiet, your tinnitus can become much more obvious.
  • The level of your stress will continue to rise the longer you go without sleep. As your stress level increases your tinnitus will get worse.

When your anxiety is contributing to your tinnitus, you may hear that whooshing sound and worry that an anxiety attack is near. It’s not surprising that you’re losing sleep. But lack of sleep leads to all kinds of problems.

How lack of sleep affects your health

The impact insomnia has on your health will continue to become more significant as this vicious cycle carries on. And this can really have a negative impact on your wellness. Here are some of the most common impacts:

  • Poor work performance: Naturally, your job performance will suffer if you can’t get a good night’s sleep. You won’t be as enthusiastic or be able to think clearly and quickly.
  • Increased stress and worry: When you’re not sleeping, it makes those anxiety symptoms you already have even worse. This can become a vicious cycle of mental health-related issues.
  • Reduced reaction times: When you aren’t getting enough sleep, your reaction times are more sluggish. This can make daily activities like driving a little more dangerous. And if, for example, you run heavy machinery, it can be particularly dangerous.
  • Greater risk of cardiovascular disease: Over time, lack of sleep can begin to impact your long-term health and well-being. Increased risk of a stroke or heart disease can be the outcome.

Other causes of anxiety

Tinnitus, of course, isn’t the only cause of anxiety. And recognizing these causes is important (largely because they will help you prevent anxiety triggers, which as an added bonus will help you avoid your tinnitus symptoms). Here are some of the most common causes of anxiety:

  • Medical conditions: In some cases, you might simply have a medical condition that makes you more prone to a heightened anxiety response.
  • Stress response: Our bodies will have a normal anxiety response when something stresses us. If you are being chased by a wild animal, that’s great. But it’s not so good when you’re working on an assignment for work. Often, it’s not so obvious what the link between the two is. Something that caused a stress response last week could cause an anxiety attack today. You might even have an anxiety attack in reaction to a stressor from last year, for example.
  • Hyperstimulation: For some people, getting too much of any one thing, even a good thing, can cause an anxiety episode. Being in a crowded place, for instance, can cause some individuals to have an anxiety response.

Other factors: Some of the following, less common factors might also trigger anxiety:

  • Fatigue and sleep deprivation (see the vicious cycle once again)
  • Use of stimulants (that includes caffeine)
  • Certain recreational drugs
  • Poor nutrition

This isn’t an all-inclusive list. And you should seek advice from your provider if you suspect you have an anxiety disorder.

How to fix your anxiety-related tinnitus?

You have two basic choices to treat anxiety-induced tinnitus. You can either try to address the anxiety or address the tinnitus. In either case, here’s how that might work:

Addressing anxiety

There are a couple of options for treating anxiety:

  • Cognitive-behavioral Therapy (CBT): Certain thought patterns can inadvertently worsen your anxiety symptoms and this approach will help you identify those thought patterns. Patients are able to better avoid anxiety attacks by interrupting those thought patterns.
  • Medication: In some instances, medication could help you cope with your symptoms or make your symptoms less pronounced.

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:

  • White noise machine: When you’re attempting to sleep, use a white noise machine. Your tinnitus symptoms may be able to be masked by this approach.
  • Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT): When you are dealing with tinnitus, CBT strategies can help you produce new thought patterns that accept, acknowledge, and reduce your tinnitus symptoms.
  • Masking device: Think of this as a white noise machine you wear beside your ears. This can help minimize how much you notice your tinnitus.

You could get better sleep by dealing with your tinnitus

You’ll be at risk of falling into a vicious cycle of anxiety and tinnitus if the whooshing and ringing are keeping you up at night. Dealing with your tinnitus first is one possible option. To do that, you should contact us.

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.