Are you being kept awake by ringing in your ears? You don’t have to just live with it. Here are a few guidelines for quieting that irritating, persistent sound so you can get some sleep.
Your sleep habits can be significantly affected by moderate to severe tinnitus. During the day, you’re preoccupied with noise and activity so your tinnitus might seem less noticeable. But tinnitus can seem louder and more stressful at night when it’s not as loud.
Luckily, there are a few techniques you can use to get to sleep more easily.
Five tricks for falling asleep with tinnitus are presented below.
1. Don’t Resist The Noise
Though this might sound difficult, if you pay attention to it, it becomes worse. This is partly because for many people higher blood pressure can make tinnitus symptoms worse. You will feel worse the more you think about it and your frustration will increase. Focusing on something else and utilizing the strategies below can help make the noise seem quieter.
2. Follow a Nighttime Schedule
Establishing good sleep habits like winding down at least 30 minutes before bed, dimming the lights and going to bed at the same time every night helps condition your body to feel sleepy at the right time. This will make it less difficult to fall asleep when you’re ready.
Tinnitus has also been related to stress. Creating habits to lower your stress level before bed can also be helpful, such as:
- Focusing on thoughts that make you relaxed and happy
- reduce the heat in your bedroom
- Sitting in a quiet room and reading a book
- Stretching or doing yoga
- Staying away from drinking alcohol
- Doing a short meditation or a deep breathing exercise
- At least a few hours before you go to bed, steer clear of eating
- Listening to mellow music or relaxing sounds
- Bathing
- Dimming the lights at least one hour before bedtime
Getting into a predictable schedule before going to bed helps you shift from the stresses of the day into night and trains your body to transition into sleep.
3. Watch What You Eat
There are known triggers to tinnitus like alcohol and artificial sweeteners. If you find, after monitoring your diet and symptoms, that specific foods trigger or worsen your tinnitus, make it a practice to avoid them. You might feel like you still need your morning coffee, but avoid caffeine in the afternoon or evening.
4. Avoid Common Causes of Tinnitus
Ringing or other noises in your ears can be caused by many things. Dealing with the cause can help prevent tinnitus or make it better. Here are several things you can do to help:
- Go over your medications with your doctor to see if one may be causing tinnitus symptoms
- Don’t use earbuds…use headphones instead and keep the volume low
- Use ear protection
- Get help for underlying conditions like high blood pressure
- so that you can identify whether your exposed to loud noises, and how to limit that exposure, you need to evaluate your lifestyle
- If you suffer from depression or anxiety, get it taken care of
- Go for your annual examination
You may be able to better manage it if you can identify what’s causing the ringing.
5. Make an Appointment to See a Hearing Specialist
A professional hearing test can help you find possible solutions as well as identify what may be causing your tinnitus. There are several ways hearing professionals can help you manage your tinnitus including:
- Scheduling a noise canceling hearing aid fitting
- Help you train your brain to not hear tinnitus by signing you up for therapy
- Recommending cognitive behavioral treatment to deal with thought patterns revealed to make tinnitus worse
Professional help can speed up recovery and assist you to sleep better at night. To find out if you can get some help with your tinnitus, schedule your appointment with a hearing care expert.