There are two forms of anxiety. When you are dealing with an emergency situation, that feeling that you have is known as common anxiety. And then you can have the type of anxiety that isn’t actually attached to any one event or concern. No matter what’s going on around them or what’s on their mind, they often feel anxiety. It’s more of a general sensation that seems to be there all day. This second kind is typically the kind of anxiety that’s not so much a neuro-typical reaction and more of a mental health issue.
Regrettably, both types of anxiety are pretty terrible for the human body. It can be particularly damaging if you experience prolonged or chronic anxiety. When it feels anxiety, your body secretes all sorts of chemicals that raise your alert status. For short periods, when you genuinely need them, these chemicals are a positive thing but they can be harmful if they are present over longer periods of time. Over time, anxiety that cannot be dealt with or brought under control will start to manifest in distinct physical symptoms.
Anxiety Has Distinct Physical Symptoms
Symptoms of anxiety commonly consist of:
- Panic attacks, shortness of breath and raised heart rate
- General aches or discomfort in your body
- Loss of interest and depression
- Fatigue
- Queasiness
- Feeling like something dreadful is about to happen
- Feeling like you are coming out of your skin
But sometimes, anxiety is experienced in surprising ways. Anxiety can even effect obscure body functions including your hearing. For example, anxiety has been connected with:
- Dizziness: Persistent anxiety can sometimes make you feel dizzy, which is an issue that may also stem from the ears. Keep in mind, your sense of balance is governed by the ears (there are these three tubes inside of your inner ears which are controlling the sense of balance).
- High Blood Pressure: And then there are a few ways that anxiety influences your body in precisely the way you’d expect it to. In this case, we’re talking about elevated blood pressure. Known scientifically as hypertension, high blood pressure can have an array of negative secondary effects on you physically. It is, to make use of a colloquialism, not so great. Dizziness, hearing loss and tinnitus can also be brought about by high blood pressure.
- Tinnitus: Did you realize that stress not only exacerbates the ringing in your ears but that it can cause the development of that ringing. This is called tinnitus (which can itself be caused by several other factors). For a few, this could even reveal itself as a feeling of blockage or clogging of the ears.
Anxiety And Hearing Loss
Because this is a hearing website, we typically tend to concentrate on, well, hearing. And your how well to hear. With that in mind, you’ll forgive us if we spend a little bit of time talking about how anxiety and hearing loss can feed each other in some relatively disconcerting ways.
The isolation is the primary concern. When someone suffers from hearing loss, tinnitus or even balance issues, they often pull away from social contact. You may have seen this in your own family members. Maybe a relative just withdrew from conversations because they were embarrassed that they have to constantly repeat what they said. The same is true for balance issues. It can be hard to admit to your friends and family that you have a difficult time driving or even walking because you’re experiencing balance problems.
There are also other reasons why anxiety and depression can lead to social isolation. When you don’t feel like yourself, you don’t want to be around others. Sadly, one can end up feeding the other and can become an unhealthy loop. That sense of solitude can develop quickly and it can result in a variety of other, closely associated problems, including cognitive decline. It can be even more challenging to combat the effects of isolation if you’re dealing with hearing loss and anxiety.
Figuring Out How to Correctly Manage Your Hearing Loss Issues
Hearing Loss, Tinnitus, anxiety and isolation can all feed each other. That’s why getting the proper treatment is so key.
All of the symptoms for these disorders can be helped by obtaining treatment for your tinnitus and hearing loss. And as far as depression and anxiety, interacting with others who can relate can be really helpful. Prolonged anxiety is more severe when there is an overwhelming sense of solitude and dealing with the symptoms can help with that. In order to decide what treatments are best for you, check with your doctor and your hearing specialist. Depending on the results of your hearing test, the best treatment for hearing loss or tinnitus might involve hearing aids. The best treatment for anxiety may include therapy or medication. Tinnitus has also been shown to be effectively treated by cognitive-behavioral therapy.
Here’s to Your Health
We understand that your mental and physical health can be severely affected by anxiety.
We also know that hearing loss can bring about isolation and cognitive decline. Together with anxiety, that’s a recipe for, well, a difficult time. Fortunately, a favorable difference can be achieved by getting the correct treatment for both conditions. The health impacts of anxiety don’t need to be permanent. What anxiety does to your body does not have to be long lasting. The sooner you get treatment, the better.