Is the ringing in your ears keeping you awake? It’s not necessary. If you would like to sleep better, think about these tips to quiet this irritating unrelenting noise.
Moderate to severe tinnitus can definitely cause a problem with your sleep cycle. During the day, you’re preoccupied with noise and activity so your tinnitus might seem less noticeable. But at night, when it’s quiet, tinnitus can get louder and more disturbing.
The good news is, if you would like to fall asleep easier, there are some techniques you can use.
Five tricks for falling asleep with tinnitus are shown below.
1. Stop Fighting Against The Noise
While this may appear difficult to impossible, focusing on the noise actually makes it worse. If you begin to become aggravated, your blood pressure goes up and this causes tinnitus symptoms to get worse. You will feel worse the more you dwell on it and your aggravation will increase. You can make the sound quieter by thinking about something else and employing the following techniques.
2. Establish a Nighttime Schedule
Developing healthy sleep habits such as 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 be sleepy at the right time. This will make it much easier to fall asleep when you’re ready.
Stress has also been related to tinnitus. It’s also helpful to create habits to lessen stress before bed.
- At least a few hours before you go to bed, avoid eating
- Dimming the lights at least an hour before you go to bed
- Doing yoga and stretching
- Doing a short meditation or deep breathing
- Going into a bath
- Reading a book in a quiet room
- Concentrating on thoughts that make you relaxed and happy
- Making your bedroom slightly cooler
- Listening to soft music or gentle sounds
- Staying away from drinking alcohol
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. Pay Attention to What You Eat
There are known triggers to tinnitus like alcohol and artificial sweeteners. Stay away from certain foods if you find, after monitoring your diet and symptoms, that they trigger or worsen your tinnitus. Caffeine is also a trigger so at least avoid drinking it in the afternoon and evening.
4. The Common Causes of Tinnitus Should be Avoided
Ringing or other noises in your ears can be caused by many things. Dealing with the cause of tinnitus can help it improve or even stop it altogether. You can do several things to help:
- If you suffer from anxiety or depression, get it treated
- so that you can determine whether your exposed to loud noises, and how to reduce that exposure, you have to assess your lifestyle
- Use headphones at a lower volume instead of earbuds
- Get help for underlying conditions like high blood pressure
- To determine whether one of your medications is triggering tinnitus symptoms check with your doctor
- Go for your annual exam
- Safeguard your ears
If you can discover what’s causing the ringing in your ears, you may be able to manage it better.
5. Make an Appointment to See a Hearing Specialist
A professional hearing test can help you identify what’s causing your tinnitus and indicate possible solutions. Professionals can help you take care of your tinnitus in several ways such as:
- Scheduling a noise canceling hearing aid fitting
- Enrolling in treatment to train your brain not to hear the tinnitus
- Help you manage thought patterns revealed to make tinnitus worse by recommending cognitive behavior therapy
Expert help can hasten recovery and assist you to sleep better at night. To see if you can get some help with your tinnitus, schedule your appointment with a hearing care specialist.