A hot thermos of Keurig-brewed coffee. A crisp fountain soda to wash down a burger and fries. A café mocha from your favorite study spot. A gas-station energy drink before an all-night shift.
We all have our favorite ways to nurse our caffeine consumption. We commune over the company coffee pot, or joke that nobody should talk to us until we’ve had our morning java. It’s more than a stimulant—it’s a social event, and a staple of the American diet—powering our lives as we struggle against chock-full schedules and sleep deprivation.
But what are the health effects of all that caffeine? For tinnitus sufferers, caffeine may be doing more than boosting their energy—it may be amplifying their symptoms.
What is Tinnitus?
Tinnitus is sound in your ear that doesn’t have an external source. Most people describe tinnitus as a ringing sound, but you could experience it like whistling, buzzing, chirping, hissing, humming, roaring or even a heartbeat.
Almost everybody experiences tinnitus at some point in their lives — maybe a subtle ringing after a loud rock concert, or a muffled fullness after a noisy football game. But for 50 million Americans, tinnitus is an ongoing, daily reality that affects their quality of life — and the effects of caffeine can make it worse.
How Does Caffeine Affect Tinnitus?
There are several ways that caffeine can exacerbate your tinnitus symptoms. First and foremost, caffeine is a stimulant: substances that increase activity in the body. They can excite your brain, your central nervous system or other systems at a cellular level. Because tinnitus can be caused by confused brain signaling and over-activity, stimulants can make the condition worse.
Second, caffeine can increase your response to stress, and stress makes tinnitus symptoms worse. When your body is stressed, it releases a hormone called cortisol. Caffeine can prolong the release of cortisol in your system, which can boost inflammation.
Caffeine also inhibits the absorption of a calming amino acid called adenosine, which signals the brain to lower energy levels in your body and promote sleep, making it harder to get a good night’s rest. That lack of sleep can feed the heightened stress (and vice-versa), escalating the majority of symptoms felt by people with tinnitus.
Finally, caffeine may seriously inhibit your body’s ability to heal after noise-induced ear injuries that can lead to tinnitus and hearing loss. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association divided 24 guinea pigs into three groups. The first group was exposed to caffeine; the second was exposed to noise at the levels you might hear at a rock concert; and the last group was exposed to both caffeine and loud noise.
The results showed that guinea pigs that had been exposed to caffeine and loud noise at the same time had a much slower recovery from temporary noise-induced hearing loss than the group who were only exposed to sounds. In addition, these guinea pigs continued to show signs of hearing loss 15 days later.
How do I Know if Caffeine is Affecting my Tinnitus?
It can be difficult to tell if caffeine is causing your tinnitus or making it worse; caffeine affects everybody differently. Some people can have a coffee before bed and sleep like a baby, while others can only drink it in the morning or else risk a sleepless night.
Try keeping a food diary to track your own caffeine intake and reactions. While there is little scientific evidence that shows caffeine worsens tinnitus in all patients, you may find it amps up your symptoms, and you may want to consider giving up caffeine altogether.
TINNITUS TIP: keeping a food diary can also get you on track to maintaining a healthy diet, which can also significantly improve your tinnitus symptoms. If you suspect you aren’t eating well, start by cutting back on processed and fast foods high in sodium — salt can lead to fluid retention and high blood pressure, both of which can make your tinnitus worse. Then, seek out foods rich in vitamins and minerals, especially colorful fruits and vegetables. In particular, choose foods that are good sources of vitamin A, beta-carotene, vitamin B12, vitamin C, vitamin E, magnesium, copper, and selenium, all of which can be important for ear and hearing health.
Related: 5 Surprising Causes of Tinnitus
How do I Quit Caffeine?
Some people can give up caffeine cold turkey, while others will experience significant and uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms that derail their efforts to quit. Follow the steps below to successfully eliminate caffeine from your diet.
Phase out caffeine. It’s best to start small; begin by cutting out one caffeinated drink per day. Do this for a week. Then cut out a second caffeinated beverage per day and do it for a week. Continue this pattern until you have stopped drinking caffeine altogether.
Choose a replacement beverage. If you miss the morning ritual of a coffee or soda, think about replacing your caffeinated beverage with its decaffeinated counterpart. Even better? Drink more water. Caffeine is a diuretic which can cause you to lose fluid. Once you are properly hydrated, you can switch things up with green tea, fruit-infused water or sparkling water.
Be ready for withdrawal symptoms. Caffeine withdrawal symptoms are possible. These include fatigue and sleepiness, depression, headaches, irritability, distraction, muscle pain and stiffness, flu-like symptoms, insomnia, constipation, and anxiety. These symptoms will go away with time, though they may take a few days or up to several weeks to resolve.
Get plenty of rest. For many of us, caffeine is a way to combat too little sleep during the day. Make sure as you are quitting caffeine that you sleep as much as you need each night. This will help your body reset and get used to your new caffeine-free system.