Can Negative Thoughts can Worsen Symptoms of Tinnitus?

Symptoms of tinnitus can be stressful. Did you know that negative feelings that are connected to tinnitus can make your symptoms worse? Let’s learn more about the link between tinnitus and pessimism. Hopefully, this will help you break the cycle of negative thoughts circling in your mind.

Tinnitus and its connection to Anxiety

The brain and nervous system are designed to respond to threatening encounters, to help you survive. This is known as the fight or flight response. Your brain can not always distinguish the difference between perceived danger and actual danger. This is the reason why you may feel the adrenaline pumping through your veins when you hear a ringing or buzzing noise in your ear, as though you are running away from a bear or other dangerous predator. 

Tinnitus induces stress, which signals to your brain that your life might be in danger. Your fight or flight response is triggered, which causes a physiological reaction such as a higher heart rate and sweating, which is commonly associated with anxiety and fear.

Your Inclination to Negative Thoughts 

Any thoughts that you associate with your tinnitus can regulate how you react on an emotional level. Your emotions may intensify your suffering. They also structure how you remember things. This is known as negative memory bias. 

When you correlate your symptoms of tinnitus with the side effects, it will create stress any time you think about it. That makes sense. You are more likely to think about tinnitus when it negatively impacts your daily life. You can shift your frame of mind to control how you react to the symptoms to alleviate the irksome noise.   

Dealing with Your Negativity

1. Change your perspective on negative thoughts. Stomp out your negativity before they impact and worsen your tinnitus. Reflect on the last time you felt this way. No matter what the answer is, you know that there was a time when you were able to divert your attention and you no longer noticed the ringing sounds. This will compel your mind to concentrate on those moments of relief, and stops you from thinking that you are constantly agonizing from hearing the noise. 
2. Be aware of your own self-pitying. It’s tempting to turn into a curmudgeon when someone asks you about your tinnitus. Most days may feel worse than others. Continue to shift your perspective by creating distractions and focusing on something else, instead of how annoying it sounds. This can help you get through how you perceive this condition.
3. Get into a good morning routine. You may try to use a white noise machine, or hearing aids, to mask the sounds and volume of your tinnitus symptoms. This will help you wake up more gently, instead of waking up from your tinnitus. If you are finding that the symptoms are distracting you, turn on your TV or radio. 

If you, or a loved one, are still experiencing tinnitus, contact us at Pure Sound Hearing for a consultation. Most modern hearing aids have a tinnitus masking feature that needs to be programmed for your specific listening needs. Our hearing instrument specialists are ready to help you.         

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