Are you being kept awake by ringing in your ears? You don’t have to just live with it. If you want to sleep better, consider these tricks to quiet this annoying persistent noise.

Moderate to severe tinnitus can definitely throw a monkey wrench in your sleep cycle. During the daytime, tinnitus can be less obvious because you’re preoccupied with noise and activity. But tinnitus can seem louder and more disturbing at night when it’s not as loud.

Luckily, there are a variety of strategies you can use to fall asleep easier.

Below are 5 techniques to falling asleep despite your tinnitus.

1. Don’t Resist The Noise

While this might appear overwhelming, paying attention to the noise really makes it worse. If you start to get aggravated, your blood pressure increases and this makes tinnitus symptoms worse. You will feel worse the more you dwell on it and your irritation will get worse. Paying attention to something else and making use of the techniques below can help make the noise seem softer.

2. Establish a Nighttime Routine

Condition your body to feel sleepy at the correct time by developing good sleep habits like dimming the lights, winding down at least a 30 minutes before bed, and going to bed at the same time each night. When you’re ready to fall asleep it will be less difficult.

Stress has also been related to tinnitus. It also helps to build habits to lessen stress before bed.

• Doing a quick meditation or a deep breathing exercise
• Sitting in a quiet room and reading a book
• Turn down the temperature in your bedroom
• Stretching or doing yoga
• Dimming the lights at least an hour before bedtime
• Stay away from eating a few hours before going to bed
• Focusing on thoughts that make you happy and calm
• Bathing
• Avoiding alcohol
• Listening to quiet sounds or soft music

Getting into a predictable schedule before bed helps you shift from the stresses of the day into night and trains your body to transition into sleep.

3. Pay Attention to What You Eat

There are known triggers to tinnitus like alcohol and artificial sweeteners. Steer clear of certain foods if you find, after tracking your diet and symptoms, that they trigger or worsen your tinnitus. You may feel like you still have to have your morning coffee, but avoid caffeine in the afternoon or evening.

4. The Common Causes of Tinnitus Should be Avoided

Ringing or other noises in your ears can be caused by many things. Addressing the cause can help prevent tinnitus or make it better. You can do several things to help:

• Don’t use earbuds…use headphones instead and keep the sound level low
• Safeguard your ears
• Go for your yearly checkup
• so that you can determine whether your subjected to loud noises, and how to limit that exposure, you need to assess your lifestyle
• Go over your medications with your doctor to see if one may be causing tinnitus symptoms
• If you have anxiety or depression, get it treated
• Get help for inherent conditions like high blood pressure

You may be able to better manage it if you can determine what’s causing the ringing.

5. Make an Appointment to See a Hearing Specialist

A professional hearing test can help you discover what’s causing your tinnitus and suggest possible treatments. Professionals can help you control your tinnitus in many ways such as:

• Suggesting cognitive behavioral treatment to deal with thought patterns shown to make tinnitus worse
• Enrolling in treatment to train your brain not to hear the tinnitus
• Scheduling a noise canceling hearing aid fitting

To speed up healing and sleep better at night, seek professional help. To see if you can get some help with your tinnitus, schedule your appointment with a hearing care expert.