Tinnitus is something that many individuals can experience in their lifetime. It affects around 15-20% of all adults as they get older. Tinnitus is something that can be managed with the help of your audiologist, but it can certainly impact different aspects of your lifestyle. Here’s how lifestyle impacts tinnitus.
What is tinnitus?
Tinnitus is a ringing in the ears but can often be described in other ways when it comes to sounds, like a drumming, vibrating or whooshing. Tinnitus isn’t a diagnosis, but rather, an underlying symptom of hearing loss. When it comes to experiencing tinnitus, it’s important to do what you can to make changes in your lifestyle.
By doing so, it can help prevent the further loss of your hearing and hopefully prevent age-related hearing loss for as long as possible. Tinnitus can crop up at any time but is most common in adults.
How is your lifestyle impacted by tinnitus?
Once you have tinnitus, it’s something that’s often temporary but can turn into something permanent if you don’t change the habits that brought it on in the first place. Here are some of the impacts that tinnitus can have on your lifestyle.
Hearing Loss
Hearing loss is one of the main ways that tinnitus can impact your lifestyle. When you experience hearing loss, it may or may not be noticeable. It all depends on the amount of hearing loss that has occurred and whether you notice it or others around you notice the chance. Signs like not hearing the doorbell go or asking others to repeat what they’ve said, even in a quiet room, is a sign of hearing loss.
Difficulty Concentrating
Difficulty focusing or concentration can be impacted when you have tinnitus. It depends on how often you experience tinnitus, but for some, it can be quite regular in its frequency. With that said, if you’re having difficulty focusing or concentrating, then this could be influenced by tinnitus.
Sleep Issues
Sleep issues are something that other areas of your lifestyle can cause, but it could be a side effect from having tinnitus. If it’s constant, then that’s going to impact how quickly you’ll be able to fall asleep and the quality of sleep you’d get every night. It’s important to get a good night’s sleep; otherwise, it can severely affect your quality of life in more ways than one.
If you are having any of these problems, you can make a few alterations to your lifestyle. Keeping volume on electronic devices low can be helpful, as well as getting any excess earwax removed. Modifications to any medication that you take can also help as well as quitting smoking and drinking.
Getting a hearing test may also be helpful to do to figure out whether or not you have any form of hearing loss that would require some assistance, whether that be in the form of surgery or a hearing aid.
