Nothing is worse than tossing and turning at night when you’re trying to fall asleep. Many different factors and conditions can affect your ability to sleep well, including tinnitus.
How Tinnitus Makes It Hard to Sleep 
Tinnitus is often described as hearing a ringing in one or both ears. However, some people experience other noises like hissing, buzzing, roaring or clicking as well. It’s a common condition, with 16 million people seeking medical attention for tinnitus each year.
For people with chronic or persistent symptoms, the noise in their ears can keep them up for hours. Additionally, you may start to develop feelings of anxiety about your tinnitus interfering with your sleep. Anxiety can make both your tinnitus and sleep quality worse.
Poor sleep, especially chronic poor sleep, can increase your risk of other health problems and reduce your overall quality of life.
Five Ways To Improve Sleep With Tinnitus
If tinnitus is making it harder for you to sleep, try the following tips:
- Use sound masking. Playing background noise at a level just under the volume of your tinnitus can help you ignore the ringing in your ear and make it easier to sleep. You can use a desk fan, sound machine or even an app on your phone that plays nature sounds or white noise. Experiment to see what works best for you.
- Relax before bedtime. Establishing a relaxation routine before bed can get your body ready for sleep and lessen anxiety. Anxiety can make your tinnitus worse. Try things like meditation, listening to relaxing music, taking a hot shower or bath or drinking a cup of herbal tea.
- Limit your screen time. It’s easy to fall into the trap of scrolling through your phone late at night, but it doesn’t help your sleep. You should put away your phone and avoid screens 90 minutes before bed. Instead, consider picking up a few calming reads at Rediscovered Books.
- Reduce your caffeine intake. Not only can too much caffeine keep you from falling asleep, but caffeine can also trigger tinnitus symptoms. Try reducing or cutting out caffeine if your tinnitus symptoms are flaring up to see if you experience improvement.
- Find your tinnitus triggers. Different people have different tinnitus triggers. For some people, eating foods with too much sodium or drinking alcohol can make their tinnitus work. Pay attention to your triggers and work to eliminate them to reduce your tinnitus symptoms.
When To See a Specialist
If tinnitus is interfering with your sleep or other aspects of your life, schedule an appointment with a specialist. If you can identify the cause of your tinnitus, treating the primary condition may resolve or reduce your tinnitus symptoms. Even if no cause can be found, several tinnitus management strategies exist, including:
- Tinnitus retraining therapy
- Acoustic therapy
- Hearing aids
- Cognitive behavioral therapy and relaxation methods
For more information or to schedule an appointment, call Southwest Idaho ENT today.