Alcohol and Tinnitus. Are they related? Can alcohol cause Tinnitus? Does alcohol affect Tinnitus? Let’s find out.
How Alcohol Can Cause Tinnitus, Or Make It Much Worse?
Increases blood pressure that disrupts middle ear functioning
Alcohol reduces the number of vasodilators in your body. These guys basically keep your blood pressure from spiking up. With enough alcohol, your blood pressure can rise up quite substantially, as shown in this study. When there’s more blood flowing through your middle ear, your auditory signals are distorted and there is a chance that Tinnitus can begin or get worse if you already have Tinnitus.
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Shrinks the auditory cortex in your brain
Alcohol, particularly when it is consumed chronically can cause the auditory cortex in your brain to shrink. Just as the name suggests, this is the part of your brain that is responsible for processing sounds. Over time, one of the symptoms of a compromised auditory cortex is Tinnitus or a ringing in the ears. Your brain basically is not able to process all of the sounds it hears. So, it compensates and invents a phantom sound that translates into the ringing, clicking or hushing sound that you have to unfortunately hear all or most of the time.
Lowers your guard against loud noises that can cause or worsen Tinnitus
This is a big risk with alcohol, especially if you already have Tinnitus. As mentioned before, your auditory cortex is compromised when you drink. Loud music sounds tolerable when you are drunk. That is because your brain is not able to process the loud music or noise. But, the tiny hair cells in your middle ear are not spared. These cells, known as stereocilia, are basically hair like structures that dance and sway to music or sounds that you hear. They convert movement into electrical signals that are then neuro transmitted into your brain for audio processing.
There’s only so much dancing these guys can do though. If you continue to stand behind those wall of speakers, some of these stereocilia just die. This damage is permanent and they cannot be regenerated. As more and more of these hair cells die, your brain again gets confused as to why they are not sending out any signals. What happens next? You guessed it. It invents the ringing, clicking or hushing sound that you will then have to live with as Tinnitus.
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A lot of people experience a case of temporary Tinnitus or a Tinnitus spike after going to a loud concert or bar or club. Alcohol doesn’t directly cause it. But, it definitely tricks your brain into thinking that the loud music is OK.
If you are going to be drinking and are going to go to an environment with loud sounds, it is highly recommended that you wear ear plugs designed for Tinnitus.
Changed fluid composition in your inner ear
Remember how your head vicariously spun the day after your long night of drinking? Alcohol can stay in the fluids of your inner ear long after you have stopped drinking. The vestibular system of your inner ear is responsible for balance. But, vertigo isn’t the only damage your inner ears suffer from, when you drink too much. Your inner ear also has cochlear structures. These cells are responsible for converting sound waves to electrical waves that are then sent to your brain.
An excessively damaged inner ear can therefore both cause or worsen Tinnitus.
Disrupts Sleep
Lack of sleep can worsen your Tinnitus. Alcohol can greatly reduce the quality of sleep. You might fall asleep sooner with alcohol, but the quality of sleep will be poor. This is why you often wake up tired after a night of drinking. Bad sleep on a chronic basis can cause various disruptions in the way your body functions and regenerates itself, with one of the ill effects being Tinnitus or ringing in the ears.
Increases stress and anxiety
Lack of sleep discussed above can increase your stress and anxiety levels. This can in turn make your Tinnitus much worse or increases the chances of having an onset of Tinnitus. Though research has not been able to pinpoint how exactly stress and anxiety causes or aggravates Tinnitus, there is an incredible amount of derivative data that clearly connects the two.
Alcohol and Hearing Loss
Please note that all the points above discuss how alcohol can cause Tinnitus or make it worse. But, these points also hold true for hearing loss, especially over the long run.
For example, drinking and going to loud clubs consistently can cause a condition called ‘cocktail deafness’. Your middle ears’ hair cells are damaged by loud music and stop responding to it after a while. Over time, you stop hearing sounds that are of the same frequency as that loud music.
Moreover, aging also causes natural hearing loss. Alcohol can indirectly accelerate this aging process.
Is Alcohol helping with your Tinnitus? It’s not a reason to drink more!
There have been instances where people have reported that alcohol has actually helped them with their Tinnitus.
Again, research cannot explain why this might happen. But, it is definitely not a reason to drink more or drink consistently. The cons of excessive or chronic alcohol consumption far outweigh the benefit of enjoying a bit of peace from the ringing in your ears.
The general consensus is that one drink for women and two drinks for women are fairly safe to drink on an everyday basis. One drink generally translates into 12 fluid ounces of beer or 5 fluid ounces of wine.
But, if you think your Tinnitus is getting worse after even moderate levels of drinking, it definitely helps to cut out alcohol completely, to see if the ringing in your ears gets better.
