Anxiety comes in two varieties. There’s common anxiety, that sensation you get when you’re coping with a crisis. And then there’s the kind of anxiety that isn’t really linked to any one worry or situation. They feel the anxiety regularly, regardless of what you’re doing or thinking about. It’s just there in the background all through the day. This sort of anxiety is normally more of a mental health problem than a neurological reaction.
Both forms of anxiety can be very unfavorable to the physical body. It can be especially damaging if you have extended or chronic anxiety. Your alert status is raised by all of the chemicals that are released during times of anxiety. For short durations, when you really need them, these chemicals are a good thing but they can be damaging if they are present over longer time periods. Over the long run, anxiety that can’t be dealt with or brought under control will begin to manifest in distinct physical symptoms.
Anxiety Has Distinct Physical Symptoms
Some symptoms of anxiety are:
- Panic attacks, shortness of breath and raised heart rate
- Feeling agitated or irritated
- Feeling like something terrible is about to occur
- Physical weakness
- Queasiness
- Bodily discomfort
- Depression and loss of interest in activities or daily life
But sometimes, anxiety manifests in unexpected ways. Indeed, there are some rather interesting ways that anxiety might actually wind up affecting things as seemingly vague as your hearing. For example, anxiety has been connected with:
- Tinnitus: Are you aware that stress not only worsens tinnitus but that it can also be responsible for the onset of that ringing. This is called tinnitus (which can itself be caused by numerous other factors). For some, this may even reveal itself as a feeling that the ears are blocked or clogged.
- Dizziness: Chronic anxiety can occasionally cause dizziness, which is an issue that could also stem from the ears. After all, the ears are typically responsible for your sense of balance (there are these three tubes inside of your inner ears that are regulating the sense of balance).
- High Blood Pressure: And a few of the effects of anxiety are not at all unexpected. Elevated blood pressure is one of those. Known medically as hypertension, high blood pressure can have really adverse effects on the body. It is, to make use of a colloquialism, bad news. Dizziness, hearing loss and tinnitus can also be caused by high blood pressure.
Anxiety And Hearing Loss
Generally on a hearing blog like this we would tend to concentrate on, well, hearing. And how well you hear. So let’s talk a bit about how anxiety impacts your hearing.
The solitude is the first and foremost concern. When a person suffers from hearing loss, tinnitus or even balance issues, they tend to pull away from social contact. Maybe you’ve seen this with someone you know. Maybe a relative just withdrew from conversations because they were embarrassed that they have to constantly repeat themselves. The same is true for balance problems. It can be hard to admit to your friends and family that you have a hard time driving or even walking because you have balance problems.
There are also other ways anxiety and depression can lead to social isolation. When you do not feel yourself, you won’t want to be with other people. Sadly, one can end up feeding the other and can turn into an unhealthy loop. The negative impact of isolation can happen rapidly and will result in several other issues and can even result in cognitive decline. For somebody who deals with anxiety and hearing loss, battling against that move toward isolation can be even more challenging.
Finding The Appropriate Treatment
Getting the correct treatment is important particularly given how much anxiety, hearing loss, tinnitus and isolation feed each other.
All of the symptoms for these ailments can be assisted by obtaining treatment for your tinnitus and hearing loss. Connecting with other people has been demonstrated to help relieve both depression and anxiety. Certainly, dealing with these symptoms can help with the sense of solitude that might make chronic anxiety more extreme. In order to determine what treatments will be most effective for your situation, consult your doctor and your hearing specialist. Depending on the results of your hearing test, the best treatment for hearing loss or tinnitus may be hearing aids. The most appropriate treatment for anxiety might include medication or therapy. Tinnitus has also been found to be effectively treated by cognitive-behavioral therapy.
Here’s to Your Health
We understand that your mental and physical health can be seriously impacted by anxiety.
We also realize that hearing loss can lead to isolation and mental decline. Coupled with anxiety, that’s a recipe for, well, a challenging time. Fortunately, a favorable difference can be achieved by getting the right treatment for both conditions. Anxiety doesn’t have to have long lasting effects on your body and the impact of anxiety on your body can be reversed. The key is getting treatment as soon as you can.