Is the ringing in your ears stopping you from sleeping? You don’t have to just live with it. If you want to sleep better, consider these tips to quiet this aggravating unrelenting sound.
Moderate to severe tinnitus can really throw a monkey wrench in your sleep cycle. During the day, tinnitus can be less obvious because you’re preoccupied with noise and activity. But at night, when it’s quiet, tinnitus can seem louder and more disturbing.
Fortunately, there are several strategies you can use to fall asleep easier.
Below are 5 tips to falling asleep despite your tinnitus.
1. Quit Resisting The Noise
Although this might sound impossible, if you pay attention to it, it gets worse. This is partly because for many people higher blood pressure can worsen tinnitus symptoms. So the more frustrated you get thinking about it, the worse you are probably going to feel. You can make the sound fade away a little by thinking about something else and using the following techniques.
2. Follow 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 every night helps condition your body to feel sleepy at the right time. This will make it less difficult to fall asleep when you’re ready.
Stress has also been associated with tinnitus. It’s also helpful to build habits to lessen stress before bed.
- Listening to mellow music or gentle sounds
- At least a few hours before you go to bed, steer clear of eating
- Taking a bath
- Doing yoga and stretching
- At least one hour before bed time, dim the lights
- Sitting in a quiet room and reading a book
- Doing a short meditation or deep breathing
- Focusing on thoughts that make you happy and relaxed
- Avoiding alcohol
- reduce the heat in your bedroom
Teaching your body to transition into sleep by getting into a predictable routine before bed helps you shift away from the stresses of the day.
3. Watch What You Eat
Artificial sweeteners and alcohol are well-known triggers for tinnitus. If you find, after tracking your diet and symptoms, that certain foods trigger or worsen your tinnitus, make it a habit to steer clear of them. 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 of tinnitus can help it improve or even prevent it altogether. Here are a few things you can do to help:
- Don’t use earbuds…use headphones instead and keep the volume low
- Go for your annual checkup
- Go over your medications with your doctor to see if one may be causing tinnitus symptoms
- If you suffer from depression or anxiety, get it taken care of
- Use ear protection
- Get help for underlying conditions such as high blood pressure
- Evaluate your lifestyle to determine whether you’re exposed to loud noises (and how to limit exposure)
If you can determine what’s causing the ringing in your ears, you might be able to deal with 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:
- Scheduling a noise canceling hearing aid fitting
- Help you train your brain to not hear tinnitus by signing you up for therapy
- Help you manage thought patterns shown to make tinnitus worse by recommending cognitive behavior 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 specialist.