There are two forms of anxiety. When you are dealing with an emergency situation, that feeling that you get is referred to as common anxiety. Some individuals experience anxiety even when there aren’t any distinct situations or concerns to attach it to. They feel anxious regularly, regardless of what you happen to be doing or thinking about. It’s more of a generalized feeling that seems to pervade the day. This kind of anxiety is normally more of a mental health issue than a neurological reaction.
Unfortunately, both forms of anxiety are harmful for the human body. It can be especially harmful if you experience extended or chronic anxiety. Your alert status is raised by all of the chemicals that are released when anxiety is experienced. It’s a good thing in the short term, but harmful over a long period of time. Certain physical symptoms will begin to manifest if anxiety can’t be treated and lasts for longer periods of time.
Bodily Symptoms of Anxiety
Some symptoms of anxiety are:
- Feeling like something terrible is about to happen
- Loss of interest and depression
- Panic attacks, difficulty breathing and increased heart rate
- General pain or discomfort in your body
- A feeling of being agitated or irritated
- Tiredness
- Queasiness
But sometimes, anxiety manifests in surprising ways. In fact, there are some rather interesting ways that anxiety might actually end up affecting things as seemingly obscure as your hearing. For example, anxiety has been linked to:
- High Blood Pressure: And then there are some ways that anxiety affects your body in exactly the way you’d expect it to. Elevated blood pressure is one of those. Known medically as hypertension, high blood pressure can have various negative secondary effects on you physically. It’s definitely not good. Dizziness, hearing loss and tinnitus can also be brought about by high blood pressure.
- Dizziness: Chronic anxiety can occasionally cause dizziness, which is an issue that may also stem from the ears. After all, the ears are typically responsible for your sense of balance (there are these three tubes in your inner ears which are controlling the sense of balance).
- Tinnitus: Did you realize that stress not only worsens the ringing in your ears but that it can cause the development of that ringing. This is known as tinnitus (which can itself be caused by numerous other factors). In certain circumstances, the ears can feel blocked or clogged (it’s staggering what anxiety can do).
Anxiety And Hearing Loss
Generally on a hearing blog such as this we would normally concentrate on, well, hearing. And how well you hear. So let’s talk a little about how your hearing is impacted by anxiety.
The isolation is the first and foremost issue. People tend to pull away from social activities when they suffer from hearing loss, tinnitus or balance troubles. You might have seen this in your own family members. Perhaps a relative just stopped talking as much because they were embarrassed that they have to constantly repeat themselves. Issues with balance present similar troubles. It can be tough to admit to your friends and family that you have a hard time driving or even walking because you have balance troubles.
Social isolation is also linked to depression and anxiety in other ways. Typically, you aren’t going to be around people if you aren’t feeling like yourself. Sadly, one can end up feeding the other and can become an unhealthy loop. That feeling of isolation can develop quickly and it can lead to a variety of other, closely associated problems, such as decline of cognitive function. It can be even harder to combat the effects of isolation if you’re dealing with hearing loss and anxiety.
Figuring Out How to Properly Treat Your Hearing Loss Troubles
Tinnitus, hearing loss, anxiety and isolation can all feed on each other. That’s why finding the best treatment is so crucial.
All of the symptoms for these disorders can be assisted by getting treatment for your tinnitus and hearing loss. And in terms of depression and anxiety, connecting with others who can relate can be really helpful. Chronic anxiety is more serious when there is a strong sense of separation and treating the symptoms can be helpful with that. Consult your general practitioner and hearing specialist to examine your options for treatment. Hearing aids might be the best solution as part of your treatment depending on what your hearing test reveals. The best treatment for anxiety might include medication or therapy. Cognitive-behavioral therapy has also been shown to help manage tinnitus.
Here’s to Your Health
We understand that your mental and physical health can be seriously impacted by anxiety.
We also know that hearing loss can bring about isolation and mental decline. In conjunction with anxiety, that’s a recipe for, well, a challenging time. Luckily, treatments exist for both conditions, and obtaining that treatment can make a big, positive difference. Anxiety doesn’t need to have long lasting effects on your body and the impact of anxiety on your body can be reversed. The sooner you find treatment, the better.
