Are you being kept up by ringing in your ears? You don’t have to just live with it. If you want to get a better nights sleep, think about these tricks to quiet this aggravating persistent sound.
Your sleep cycles can be drastically affected by moderate to severe tinnitus. During the day, you’re preoccupied with noise and activity so your tinnitus may seem less noticeable. But tinnitus can seem louder and more stressful at night when it’s quiet.
Fortunately, there are a few techniques you can use to get to sleep more easily.
Five tips for falling asleep with tinnitus are shown below.
1. Quit Fighting Against The Noise
Though this may sound impossible, if you pay attention to it, it becomes worse. If you begin to become irritated, your blood pressure goes up and this makes tinnitus symptoms worse. You will feel worse the more you think about it and your aggravation will increase. Paying attention to something else and using the strategies below can help make the noise seem softer.
2. Establish a Nighttime Schedule
Establishing good sleep habits like winding down at least 30 minutes before bed, dimming the lights and going to bed at the same time each night helps condition your body to feel sleepy at the correct time. When you’re ready to fall asleep it will be less difficult.
Stress has also been linked to tinnitus. It’s also helpful to develop habits to lessen stress before bed.
- Listening to mellow music or relaxing sounds
- Reading a book in a peaceful room
- Stay away from eating a few hours before you go to bed
- Doing yoga and stretching
- At least one hour before going to bed, dim the lights
- Going into a bath
- Avoiding alcohol
- Making your bedroom a little cooler
- Focusing on thoughts that make you relaxed and happy
- Doing a short meditation or a deep breathing exercise
Getting into a predictable routine before going to bed helps you shift away from the stresses of the day into night and teaches your body to transition into sleep.
3. Pay Attention to What You Eat
There are known triggers to tinnitus such as alcohol and artificial sweeteners. Steer clear of certain foods if you discover, after monitoring your diet and symptoms, that they trigger or worsen your tinnitus. Caffeine is also a trigger so at least avoid having any in the afternoon and at night.
4. Avoid Common Causes of Tinnitus
Ringing or other noises in your ears can be caused by many things. Dealing with the cause can help prevent tinnitus or make it better. Here are several things you can do to help:
- Use headphones at a lower volume instead of earbuds
- Protect your ears
- Schedule an appointment for your yearly checkup
- Evaluate your lifestyle to identify whether you’re subjected to loud noises (and how to limit exposure)
- Get help for underlying conditions like high blood pressure
- Get treatment for anxiety or depression
- Go over your medications with your doctor to see if one may be causing tinnitus symptoms
If you can identify what’s causing the ringing in your ears, you might be able to manage it better.
5. Get Examined by a Hearing Care Specialist
A professional hearing test can help you find potential solutions as well as identify what might be causing your tinnitus. Professionals can help you handle your tinnitus in several ways such as:
- Suggesting cognitive behavioral treatment to deal with thought patterns revealed to make tinnitus worse
- Fitting you for hearing aids created to cancel out the noise
- Help you train your brain not to hear tinnitus by signing you up for therapy
To speed up healing and sleep better at night, seek professional help. To see if you can get some help with your tinnitus, schedule your appointment with a hearing care expert.
