Living with tinnitus can make day to day life difficult. Simple tasks like driving, going to work, or hanging out with friends can become a nuisance. Life already keeps you pretty busy, but with the added constant ringing or buzzing, it can make things more stressful than normal. Unfortunately, tinnitus and stress go hand in hand. When your stressed, you focus on the sound only you can hear, which creates more stress. If you’re already stressed due to some other aspects of your life, this can also have an effect on your tinnitus, and it’ll get worse. The cycle will continue until you’re able to relieve either one or the other.
Here are ways you can try to manage your stress, which, in turn, will help manage the symptoms of your tinnitus.
Learning to Tune it Out
If you live with constant tinnitus, it’s important that you learn how to become accustomed to it. It kind of has to become this thing that you don’t pay any mind to. For example, think of a ticking clock. If you focus on it, it’ll be all you hear. If you become used to it, the sound disappears even though the clock never stops ticking. Some people who suffer from tinnitus have said that learning to habituate to it and turning it out has been the best relief they’ve found.
Relaxation Techniques
Relaxation is important in preventing and alleviating stress, which also keeps the tinnitus at bay. It’s a great tool, so try a few different techniques and find the ones that work for you. Guided meditation can help you focus on something other than the buzzing sounds you may experience. Most meditation techniques incorporate some kind of mindful breathing, which is another great way to relax. There’s the act of progressive muscle relaxation, which is the practice of clenching your muscles for 10 seconds and releasing, starting from your toes and working your way up the body. It helps you focus on other parts of yourself than just the loud noise in your ears caused by your tinnitus.
Another helpful way to relax is trying CBD, derived from the hemp flower. There are new things being discovered about CBD all the time, and hemp is proving to be a promising plant. CBD comes from the cannabis plant but doesn’t contain any THC itself so there’s no psychoactive effect. Plain Jane CBD flowers come from small farms in the United States, but mostly near their home of Southern Oregon. They offer a variety of products from hemp buds, tinctures, and CBD oils. With more than 20 strains, you’ll surely find the perfect one to help you relax, ease your tinnitus symptoms, and find a peaceful state.
Exercise
You don’t have to move your body with the sole intention of losing weight. Regular exercise is a healthy way to manage stress. You can go for a 30-minute walk every day and blow off steam from a stressful day at work. Yoga is a form of moving meditation and can focus your mind on other things. If your tinnitus is related to high blood pressure, this could also benefit you and get it both of those conditions under control.
Seeking Medical Help for Tinnitus
There are places you can go to try different tinnitus remedies that may help with improving your quality of life. Having a hearing test done can gauge if you’re experiencing hearing loss as that is typical with tinnitus. A hearing aid won’t stop tinnitus, but it can provide relief when hearing loss is present. There are different treatments that may be done, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, tinnitus retraining therapy, tinnitus sound therapy, and stress management. Tinnitus can happen at any time for a number of different reasons, so it’s important to get your tinnitus symptoms evaluated by a medical professional.
Trying to live a stress-free life is easier said than done, but at least you’ll have some tools to keep it manageable. You don’t have to let tinnitus rule your life.
