Ring! Ring! Many people live with ringing in their ears all day and all night long. Constant ear ringing can make it hard to focus, sleep, enjoy music fully, and stay in a low or non stress state. Tinnitus natural remedies to the rescue! Sometimes there is a known reason for the ringing and seeing an audiologist or ear, nose, and throat doctor will help you identify and solve that medical issue. When the cause is unknown, ear ringing is called tinnitus.
Tinnitus is intimately tied to brain health, hearing loss, and mood so don’t ignore it! There is no magic medication to stop ear ringing but there are many actions and choices that you can do for yourself in order to reduce or dispel your tinnitus so you feel better not older!
Blood Flow and Blood Pressure
Ear ringing can be a warning sign of poor blood flow to the ear and brain. Poor blood flow to the brain decreases brain health, diminished your brain’s ability to heal from an injury like a concussion, and lowers your cognitive abilities in both short and long term. Therefore, anything done to improve your blood flow will help your brain and body work longer and could help your tinnitus as well.
- Nitric Oxide: Nitric Oxide is a big factor in relaxing your blood vessels so they open up (dilate) and blood flows better. An easy anytime way to increase your nitric oxide levels is the breathe through your nose while your tongue rests in its natural place on the top of your mouth. Go ahead, take 10 breaths like that. It works!
- Omega 3 Fatty Acids: These fats are known to anti-inflammatory for the body, act as a blood thinner to improve circulation, and support healthy cell membranes including in your brain and your ear. It is difficult to get enough Omega-3’s from diet to be in optimal heart and brain health so I choose to supplement. I have three choices available through Zen and Vitality: Super Omega-3 Plus, Citrus Flavored Omega-3 Gel, and Omega-3 Gummies.
- Anti-inflammatory Foods: Sometimes the yummy things we eat are not considered yummy and welcome by all parts of the body – then inflammation happens and blood flow changes. Eating foods that offer anti-inflammatory nutrients will help your blood flow better so it can get to all the tiny capillaries in your brain and ears. If you are local to Charles County, Maryland, Next Step Produce will deliver your fresh anti-inflammatory vegetables, fruits, weekly to Zen and Vitality’s lobby for your convenience.
- Chaga: Chaga is considered a functional mushroom that is not edible but works wonders within the body anyway. Chaga is an incredibly rich source of antioxidants and also serves as a blood thinner. It is best taken as a tincture which has both water and alcohol components in order to get all the good stuff out of the piece of chaga. The chaga available at my La Plata, MD studio is from LifeCykel.
- Adrenal Support: Your adrenal glands do more make stress hormones. They also control your blood pressure and the messages sent your heart about heart rate. Adrenal glands benefit from nutritional support including sodium, potassium, magnesium, and herbal allies like adaptogens. To discover what your unique body needs, request a Hair Mineral Analysis so you can confidently make the changes to support your adrenal glands and lower that ringing in your ears!
- Micro Circulation Support: Sometimes your blood flow needs help on both the macro (heart and big vessels) and the micro (capillaries) nlevels. Performace Cardio from Quicksilver Scientific is a liposomal nutraceutical full of herbs used all over the world to support healthy blood flow on both micro and macro levels.
Brain and Nervous System
Auditory signals from the nerves in your ear are processed by your brain. It should make sense then that the state of your brain and nerves will affect the ringing in your ears. Ringing happens when there is enough excitation of the nerves to produce signals for your brain to process – all the time. Calming down those excitable nerves and brain will help the rest of you for sure and likely your tinnitus as well.
- Yoga: Yoga is known as a terrific way to calm the brain and body – just ask any of my clients! The breathing, movement, and focus on you – here – now – make a world of difference to your nervous system. In particular, movements that are neck/throat oriented and where tour head is lower than your heart (inversions) are perfect for improving blood flow to your head.
- Magnesium: Minerals make your internal world go ’round. Magnesium is a mineral that calms and relaxes your muscles and your nervous system. Many American diets are deficient in magnesium and supplementation is needed in order to feel good. Beware the forms of magnesium in cheap supplements – they don’t get absorbed well so they function best as a laxative. As part of your 3 month Custom Supplement Subscription, you can get either Neuro-Mag (best for the brain and nervous system) or Magnesium Breakthrough (for its multiple forms to address the entire body).
- Meditation: The calming benefits of meditation are known worldwide and have been known for thousands of years. Meditation looks different for each person and can be done anytime anywhere – no movement is required. Meditation is all about focusing on certain thoughts and letting the rest fade away. Guided meditation recordings are a great way to begin the practice of meditating. If you do not feel calmer after the recording, you can simply repeat the recording and try again!
- Electrolyte Imbalance: Every cell in the body (including your brain) functions because of the basics of electricity. A positive charge here and a negative charge there create movement and stimulation on the cellular level. Without the right levels of the six basic electrolytes in the body, your body does not work – electrically. Nerves can fire too much or not enough. Brain cells can be overly sensitive or have low sensitivity. The end result can be your ears ringing unless you have balanced your electrolytes and made sure that you are well hydrated (water plus minerals or electrolytes) rather than well watered (which just makes you pee constantly). Depending on what your diet looks like, you might benefit from BEAM Minerals, LMNT electrolyte powder, or Ultima electrolyte powder.
Muscular Tension and Usage Patterns
Muscular tension in the head and neck can wreak havoc on your jaw, your hearing, and give you a headache to boot! Your muscular patterns like teeth grinding, holding your head up rather than letting it drop forward, and more can contribute to your ear ringing and generally make you feel suboptimal. Tension in the muscles will cause stimulation and stress to your nerves – even the ones far away. Lowering muscle tension is one way to reduce the intensity or occurrence of tinnitus.
- Postural Alignment: Forward head posture is the most common misalignment of the head that causes neck strain and might be a part of your tinnitus. Figuring out how to gradually adjust your posture to use the lazier muscles more and take some work off the stronger, constantly tight muscles will give you more energy and blood flow which can only help! This is often what my new clients spend their First Session learning. Are you ready?
- Fascial Release: Your body’s tension network is called your fascia system. When one part is tight and another is loose, there is stress and strain on the areas in between. When this happens in your head and neck, rebalancing the tension will often diminish your tinnitus experience. One way to do this is to request a massage. Another way is to learn how to use props to do your own fascial rebalancing in one of my Fascial Release classes.
- Vitamin D and Calcium: Vitamin D (which is really a hormone) controls the absorption and usage of calcium in the body. Calcium is required in order for the neurotransmitter release by the hairs within the ear and muscle contractions. Many people who are deficient in either Vitamin D or calcium in their diet find that remedying these deficiencies contribute to less ear ringing. Remember that if your calcium intake is low, your body will remove calcium from your bones in order to keep you functioning – and that puts you at risk for Osteopenia and Osteoporosis. Don’t make your body choose between ears and muscles when it comes to calcium! Also make sure your Vitamin D supplement comes with Vitamin K2 to support bone growth.
Sleep and Hormones
Good quality sleep can fix so many mental and physical health problems. It is a time of healing and regeneration. Sleep is when you remove the things that do not help your body and mind and have the time and energy to repair what is needed. These only happen when you are in a non-stressed state which will absolutely help your tinnitus be less of an issue!
- Melatonin and Cortisol Hormones: These hormones are partners in your daily circadian rhythm. Cortisol wakes you up while melatonin helps you fall asleep. Both are anti-inflammatory in nature so low values tend to create pain and trouble within the body. High cortisol levels are suboptimal as they keep you in a stressed state longer than is truly necessary. Melatonin in addition to promoting sleep, also serves as wonderful support for the body’s natural antioxidant production inside the cells. Melatonin is therefore fabulous for the safety and health of mitochondria all over the body. How do you boost melatonin production? Focus on the cortisol to melatonin balance! Find just the right amount of stress and calm. Find Balance!
- Oxytocin: Oxytocin is known as the hormone of love but it is so much more than that! Oxytocin is the antidote to stress. This is why sex relaxes so many people and also why women need to relax in order to feel sexy. When you are relaxed and have oxytocin in your brain and body, your tinnitus will be much less present in your mind. The distress to your nervous system caused by tinnitus activates the portion of your brain (amygdala) responsible for keeping you alive. Oxytocin calms the amygdala and so makes the tinnitus more tolerable. Go get yourself some oxytocin and let me know how those ringing ears are!
- Thyroid: Your thyroid hormones set the speed at which your cells to function. Too many thyroid hormones inside the cells of your ears can make them ring in a pulsing fashion like your heartbeat. Not enough thyroid activation inside the cell tends to make a continuous ring. Either can be annoying and is worth getting a full Thyroid panel to see what is going on. Your energy levels will thank you!
- Estrogen: This sex hormone is known to be protective for both brain and the inner ear. Low estrogen states (near menstruation or during perimenopause and menopause) can accompany tinnitus and other auditory problems. Improving your estrogen status through adaptogens or mitochondrial support will definitely help you feel more vibrant, improve your balance, and it might also lower your ear ringing.
- Progesterone: The inner ear has progesterone receptors and many find that a bit of topical progesterone cream helps alleviate ringing. Progesterone will also stimulate calming and a slowing down of your fight and flight stress response. Progesterone is crucial to brain health – just ask any baby who is bathed in high progesterone levels in the womb in order to support brain growth! With a progesterone boost, you will likely sleep better, feel calmer, and might have lower ringing in those ears.
Vitamins and Minerals
Vitamins and minerals make your internal world go ’round! They both play roles in activating and enabling processes within the body. If your body is lacking in vitamins and minerals, body functions become confused and don’t work as well as they should – including your ears and brain!
- B Vitamins: The B vitamin family works together to support your body in so many ways. For tinnitus, B1 helps energy metabolism inside the cell using carbohydrates, B12 supports the regeneration of nerves, and B6 facilitates the production of neurotransmitters as signals to the brain. They must all come in together in order for everything to work smoothly. If your diet does not provide adequate balanced amounts of all the B’s, consider either Liposomal Methyl B Complex or Bioactive Complete B Complex as supplements.
- Zinc: Zinc is tied to progesterone production in the body and immune function action. Your immune system’s job is to protect your cells, particularly the delicate ones of the inner ear. If you want to know your body’s current zinc level, request a Hair Mineral Analysis and you will get so much useful information!
- Vitamin E and C: Vitamin E stops the cascade of damage that happens when one cell fails and tells its neighbor to also fail. Vitamin C regenerates the used Vitamin E so it can save another cell. These are valuable vitamins throughout the body, however the inner ear is so small that these vitamins can make a big difference. You can get them together in Liposomal UltraVitamin or bring them in separately via foods and Vitamin E oil massaged into your skin.
