What you put in your mouth can have a considerable impact on what you hear in your ears, particularly if you are suffering from tinnitus.
Put simply, tinnitus is the perception of noise in your ear. More often than not, the sound perceived is ringing. However, it’s also possible for it to the buzzing, whooshing, clicking, hissing or humming kind.
There are many different reasons why tinnitus strikes. Usually, it’s brought about by Meniere’s disease which is disease affecting the inner ear.
However, tinnitus may also be due to things like a head or neck injury, temporomandibular joint or TMJ disorder, high blood pressure, exposure to loud noises, too much earwax and even the normal process of aging. In some instances, poor hydration of the body is the culprit.
Various medications may be prescribed for people who are complaining about tinnitus, and some of them include those that are for depression and anxiety.
There are also all-natural remedies available for tinnitus. A few examples are reducing stress, putting anxiety under control, and using a white noise machine or app.
If you are being bugged by tinnitus, it’s very important for you to mind what you eat or don’t eat — some foods are known to in fact make tinnitus worse.
According to health authorities, below are some of those that you should steer clear of or limit considerably in order to tame your tinnitus naturally:
Coffee
Just like what’s mentioned earlier, sometimes stress the root cause of tinnitus. This is why minimizing your intake of coffee, which is something that can stress the body, is a good idea.
However, if you are used to consuming lots of coffee everyday eliminating this caffeinated drink from your life may actually aggravate tinnitus.
Caffeinated Drinks
What makes coffee bad for someone with tinnitus is its caffeine content, a chemical that can excite the nervous system and also cause a rise in the blood pressure — both of which can cause tinnitus to come into being.
It’s for this reason exactly why it’s not just coffee that you should limit, but also other drinks that have caffeine in them, including the very healthy green tea.
Alcohol
There are a couple of reasons why the intake of alcohol — excessively or even in very small amounts — can actually make your tinnitus worse.
First, alcohol can cause a rise in your blood pressure — so many people who are suffering from hypertension or high blood pressure encounter tinnitus. Second, alcohol can cause dehydration, which is a tinnitus trigger.
Sodium
If your doctor told you that it is high blood pressure that is causing your tinnitus, then make sure that you steer clear of foods that are packed with sodium.
The intake of salty foods can cause your blood pressure to spike, thus worsening your tinnitus. Besides, staying away from sodium-rich foods is a step so important for considerably lowering your risk of developing heart disease.
Sugar
Aside from salty treats, you should also avoid sugary foods — too much sugar can lead to inflammation and obesity, both of which can cause high blood pressure.
Someone who is battling type 2 diabetes may encounter tinnitus after consuming something that has lots of sugar in it as a spike in the levels of glucose in the bloodstream is known to trigger tinnitus.
Processed Foods
Last but not least, it’s a good idea for you to turn your back on processed foods. That’s because many of the additives in them are known to cause exacerbation of tinnitus.
By the way, you should also say no to foods that are laden with monosodium glutamate or MSG, which is a seasoning. Chinese foods are some of those that tend to contain lots and lots of tinnitus-triggering MSG.
