Ringing in your ears stopping you from sleeping? It’s not necessary. If you want to get a better nights sleep, think about these tricks to quiet this irritating unrelenting sound.
Your sleep habits can be significantly impacted by moderate to severe tinnitus. During the daytime, tinnitus is often less evident because you’re distracted by noise and activity. But at night, when there’s less noise, tinnitus can get louder and more stressful.
The good news is, if you would like to fall asleep easier, there are some things you can do.
Five tricks for falling asleep when you have tinnitus are shown below.
1. Quit Fighting Against The Noise
While this may appear overwhelming, focusing on the noise really makes it worse. This is to some extent because for many people a rise in blood pressure can make tinnitus symptoms worse. You will feel worse the more you dwell on it and your irritation will increase. You can make the sound fade away a little by thinking about something else and utilizing the following techniques.
2. Establish a Nighttime Routine
Establishing good sleep habits like winding down at least a half hour 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. When you’re ready to fall asleep it will be less difficult.
Tinnitus has also been related to stress. It also helps to build habits to de-stress before bed.
- Going into a bath
- Dimming the lights at least one hour before you go to bed
- At least a few hours before you go to bed, steer clear of eating
- Avoiding alcohol
- Concentrating on thoughts that make you calm and happy
- Doing yoga and stretching
- Making your bedroom slightly cooler
- Reading a book in a quiet room
- Listening to mellow music or relaxing sounds
- Doing a short meditation or a deep breathing exercise
Teaching your body to transition into sleep by getting into a predictable regimen before bed helps you transition away from the stresses of the day.
3. Watch What You Eat
There are known triggers to tinnitus such as alcohol and artificial sweeteners. If you discover, after monitoring your diet and symptoms, that specific foods trigger or worsen your tinnitus, make it a practice to avoid them. You may feel that 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. Addressing the cause can help avoid tinnitus or make it better. You can do several things to help:
- Schedule an appointment for your yearly checkup
- Use ear protection
- If you have depression or anxiety, get it treated
- so that you can determine whether your exposed to loud noises, and how to limit that exposure, you need to evaluate your lifestyle
- Get help for inherent conditions like high blood pressure
- To determine whether one of your medications is causing tinnitus symptoms consult your doctor
- Use headphones at a lower volume instead of earbuds
You might be able to better manage it if you can identify what’s causing the ringing.
5. Get Examined by a Hearing Care Specialist
A professional hearing test can help you discover what’s causing your tinnitus and suggest possible solutions. Professionals can help you handle your tinnitus in many ways such as:
- Enrolling in therapy to train your brain not to hear the tinnitus
- Scheduling a noise canceling hearing aid fitting
- Suggesting cognitive behavioral therapy to deal with thought patterns shown to make tinnitus worse
Professional help can hasten healing and help you sleep better at night. To see if you can get some help with your tinnitus, schedule your appointment with a hearing care specialist.