Tinnitus is the perception of noise or ringing in the ears. It affects about 15 to 20 percent of people but is relatively common among pilots and can create problems with sensitivity to noise. A Swedish study (418 male & 42 female pilots) returned a 79% YES response rate to the tinnitus questionnaire.
Untreated tinnitus can be incredibly dangerous to your overall wellbeing and can lead to depression, anxiety, and social isolation.
Tinnitus isn’t a condition itself - it’s a symptom of an underlying condition, such as age-related hearing loss, ear injury, circulatory system disorder, sclerosis, acute otitis media, syndrome Meniere, high blood pressure, low blood pressure, irritation of the auditory nerves or tympanic injury.
Sometimes the motor-like noise in the ears can be due to a strong stress which results in the contraction of the peripheral blood vessels (capillaries) from the head and a thickening of the blood circulation.
The disease can also be caused by the imbalance between the arterial and venous blood which causes reflux and swelling in the blood vessels of the ears. In this case, nausea and vomiting may occur.
There are many nutritional and lifestyle changes that can improve the condition and overall health. Here are some:
- Use hearing protection and turn down the volume. Over time exposure to loud sounds can damage the nerves in the ear, causing hearing loss and tinnitus.
- Take care of your cardiovascular health. Regular exercise and a diet designed to keep your blood vessels healthy can help prevent tinnitus linked to blood vessel disorders. Pineapple is one of the foods which improves blood flow and protects the body from viruses and bacteria by its content in bromelain.
- Omega 3 helps with blood pressure, cholesterol, cardiac rhythm, and nervous system.
- Ginkgo Biloba tea and extracts help to combat deafness of vascular origin and implicitly tinnitus.
- Various vitamins and minerals like vitamin E, K, Mn.
- Acupuncture, Reflexology, Hyperbaric oxygen therapy, etc
