By Barry Keate
Barry Keate, has lived with tinnitus over 40 years and has published 150+ research articles on numerous aspects of tinnitus. He is an expert on the condition and a well-known advocate for those with tinnitus.
(Los Muertos Crew/pexels)
Waking up to ringing in your ears can be frustrating. Whether you have had tinnitus for years or woke up from a night out with ringing in your ears, how you manage your symptoms starts in the morning. Rather than relying on trial and error to manage morning symptoms, here are some proven tips and tricks to help relieve your symptoms and keep them from impacting your day (too much).
Why Am I Experiencing Tinnitus in the Morning?
The inner ear is a delicate part of the body. The fine hairs in your inner ear are sensitive to sound waves, and they help transfer signals to your brain to translate into recognizable sounds. When these hairs are damaged, the signals scramble, leading to the perception of sound with no external source. Ringing, buzzing, or whooshing in your ears is known as tinnitus. While temporary tinnitus disappears after a few hours or days, permanent tinnitus can be ongoing and or intermittent.
Regardless of which type of tinnitus you have, mornings can be especially bothersome. Let’s look at some common reasons why your tinnitus may sound louder when you wake.
Loud Events
Depending on what activities you participated in the night before, you may wake up feeling tinnitus symptoms. Loud activities and events, such as concerts, clubbing trips, or sporting events, can cause damage to the inner ear. These venues can be incredibly loud, and spending hours there can be very harmful. Damage from prolonged exposure to these loud sounds can cause the pesky tinnitus symptoms you wake up with.
Sleeping Position
If you already have chronic or permanent tinnitus and wake up with more pronounced symptoms than when you went to sleep, it may be because of your sleeping position. The position of your neck and head while you sleep can restrict blood flow to your ears. Insufficient circulation to the ea can worsen tinnitus symptoms.
Silence
You probably don’t notice the ticking of the clock or the sound of the furnace turning off and on during the day. In the silence of the night, these sounds seem much louder because the bedroom is quiet. Likewise, waking up in a quiet room where the only sound is the ringing in your ears, may make it sound louder than it was yesterday.
Stress
Do you have a big day ahead? Perhaps you have a dental appointment or presentation at work you’ve been dreading. That dread can hit you double when you wake. The stress of the day ahead can hit quickly once you are awake. The stress hormones now coursing through your veins won’t help quiet your tinnitus. In fact, it is a downward spiral as the stress makes the ringing louder, causing you more stress.
Brain Activity
Even though you’ve been asleep for the past seven hours, your brain has been hard at work. Our brains take care of a lot of tasks, including consolidating memories and regulating emotions while we are sleeping. This activity can make you more sensitive to tinnitus symptoms as you transition from sleeping to fully awake in the morning.
Managing Morning Tinnitus
While there are a few reasons for the tinnitus symptoms you are experiencing, there are also a few ways to manage it so you can start your day off on the right food.
1. Sound Baths
Starting your day with bothersome ringing is not ideal. If you are looking for a way to manage your tinnitus and help start your day on the right foot, consider regularly sound bathing. Sound therapy involves using white noise or soft music to override your hearing tinnitus ringing. This works by forcing your brain to focus on a real, external source rather than obsessing over a perceived one. Many people find this an effective and calming way to start the day.
2. Meditation
A day that begins with mindfulness is bound to be a good one, especially when it kills two birds with one stone. Meditation is a common method for managing tinnitus symptoms. Tinnitus can often cause a great deal of stress and anxiety, which can worsen symptoms or make them more noticeable. Hyperfixating on the ringing, buzzing, or whooshing of tinnitus can make it difficult to focus on other sounds around you, causing irritability.
Meditation aims to shift the focus away from your symptoms and onto other aspects of your body and surroundings. Common meditation practices for people with tinnitus include guided imagery routines, deep breathing exercises, and body scans (systematically focusing attention on different parts of the body). These practices help you start your day off right by lowering your stress levels and being mindful of aspects of yourself that are not your hearing impairment.
3. Get Out of Bed
When you wake up with tinnitus symptoms, get out of bed right away. Staying in bed for a long time may seem relaxing, but it can give your brain little to focus on other than your tinnitus. Starting your day off quickly with a stimulating activity can help you start your day without leaving time for you to register your tinnitus symptoms too much.
A long walk, workout, crossword puzzle, or even just focusing on making breakfast as soon as you wake up can get your brain firing as quickly as possible. It can help set you up for a more productive day, and distract you from the ringing in your ears.
4. Ear Ringing Pills
If you cannot shake the ringing in your ears and are looking for any way to relieve your symptoms, it may be time to invest in a natural solution. High-quality, natural supplements for tinnitus include ingredients, such as zinc, vitamin B12 and Ginkgo biloba for ringing ears can help alleviate symptoms.
Increasing your intake of these vitamins, minerals, and herbs may mean turning to herbal supplements for tinnitus, like Arches Tinnitus Formula. Our proprietary blend of nutrients and herbs essential in aiding tinnitus symptoms are available in a daily supplement. These supplements have helped relieve pestering symptoms for thousands and may help you, too.
Dealing with the symptoms of tinnitus can take time. Because there is no cure, finding a management strategy that works for you can take time. Don’t give up on your search for a method that works for you. Try different approaches, from diet to mindfulness, to see what works for you.
Infographic
Waking up to ringing in your ears can disrupt your day before it starts. Whether tinnitus is a long-term issue or a result of a loud night, how you handle it in the morning can affect the rest of your day. Discover effective morning remedies for tinnitus in this infographic.
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