Ear Popping, Ear Pressure

Causes: Why Anxiety Can Cause Ear-Popping and Ear Pressure Symptoms

The ear is comprised of three spaces: the inner ear, middle ear, and outer ear.

Your ears pop because of the difference in pressure between the air pressure in your middle ear and the air pressure outside. This is how that works:

The inner ear is a small space that has air in it. Normally, the ear pressure in the middle ear and the air pressure outside are the same. However, when the air pressure outside changes, such as when changing altitude, and the air pressure in the middle ear remains the same, this causes a difference between the two air pressures. A difference in air pressure puts pressure on the eardrum, which creates the sensation of pressure in the ear.

Swallowing or yawning, however, opens the Eustachian tubes (the tube that links the middle ear to the back of the throat) and allows the pressure to balance. This rebalancing often causes a “popping” sound.

We normally experience air pressure changes and popping when altitude changes. However, stress can also cause air pressure changes in the middle ear, which can cause frequent ear pressure and popping.[1][2]

Anxiety can cause ear-popping symptoms in several ways. For example:

1. Anxiety-Activated Stress Response

Anxious behavior, such as worry, activates the stress response, which secretes stress hormones into the bloodstream, where they travel to specific locations to immediately prepare the body for emergency action – to fight or flee. This instinctual survival reaction is often referred to as the Fight Or Flight Response.[3][4]

Visit the “Stress Response” article for the many ways it can affect the body.

Many of the stress response changes can cause ear-popping. For instance, the stress response:

• Tightens muscles to make the body more resilient to injury, including the head, face, jaw, and neck muscles. These tight muscles can affect Eustachian tube function, leading to pressure changes in the ear that can cause popping.

• Shunts blood to the brain to increase emergency awareness and reactivity, which can cause executive function cognitive impairment. A blood flow change can affect the ear's structure, leading to pressure changes in the ear that can cause popping.

• Heightens most of the body’s senses to be more aware of danger. Increased sensory sensitivity can make individuals more sensitive to and aware of ear pressure changes.

• Quickly converts the body’s energy reserves into “fuel” (blood sugar) to provide an instant boost of energy. This boost of energy increases heart rate, respiration, and metabolism. These changes, in addition to tightening muscles, can increase blood pressure. Increased blood pressure can affect ear pressure, causing ear-popping symptoms.

Any combination of the above stress response changes can cause ear-popping symptoms.

The degree of stress response is proportional to the degree of anxiety. The more anxious you are, the more dramatic the stress response and its impact.

Since stress responses push the body beyond its internal balance (equilibrium), stress responses stress the body. As such, anxiety stresses the body, and as mentioned, stress is a common cause of ear-popping symptoms.

Anxious behavior is a common cause of acute ear-popping and ear pressure symptoms.

2. Hyperstimulation

When stress responses occur infrequently, the body recovers relatively quickly from its changes. However, frequently activated stress responses, such as from overly anxious behavior, can prevent the body from completely recovering. Incomplete recovery can leave the body in a state of semi-stress-response-readiness, which we call “stress-response hyperstimulation” since stress hormones are powerful stimulants.

Hyperstimulation is also often referred to as “hyperarousal,” “HPA axis dysfunction,” or “nervous system dysregulation.”[5][6][7]

Visit our “Hyperstimulation And Its Effects” article for more information about the many ways hyperstimulation can affect the body and how we feel.

Hyperstimulation can cause the changes of an active stress response even though a stress response hasn’t been activated.

Just as an active stress response can cause acute ear-popping and ear pressure symptoms, hyperstimulation can cause chronic ear-popping and ear pressure symptoms.

Hyperstimulation can cause ear-popping symptoms in other ways, too. For instance, hyperstimulation can cause:

• Nervous System Excitation and Dysregulation: A chronically stimulated nervous system can act erratically and cause all kinds of nervous, sensory, somatic, and vestibular system problems, leading to ear-popping and ear pressure symptoms.

• Nervous System Excitation and Dysregulation: A chronically excited and dysregulated nervous system can act erratically and cause all sorts of nervous system-related problems, such as ear-related symptoms, including popping and pressure symptoms.

• Homeostatic Dysregulation: Homeostasis is the body’s ability to automatically maintain a stable internal environment despite changes in the external environment. Hyperstimulation can cause homeostatic dysregulation, leading to internal regulation problems, which can affect the nervous, sensory, somatic, and vestibular systems, causing problems with ear-popping and pressure.

• Hormone changes: Hormones play a crucial role in homeostasis and many bodily functions, which can affect the nervous, sensory, and vestibular systems. Since stress hormones affect other hormones, hyperstimulation can cause nervous, sensory, somatic, and vestibular system problems, affecting ear pressure, causing popping and pressure symptoms.

Hyperstimulation is a common cause of chronic ear-popping and ear pressure symptoms.

3. Behavior

Anxious behavior can also cause ear-popping and ear pressure symptoms. For instance, many anxious people clench their jaws, grind their teeth, and tense their muscles, which can lead to ear pressure changes that cause ear-popping. Anxious behavior often affects the temporomandibular joint (TMJ), leading to ear problems, such as ear-popping and pressure.

Many anxious people are also constantly on high alert, which can make them more aware of and focused on their symptoms, including ear symptoms, such as ear-popping and pressure. For instance, normal ear pressure changes and popping can be perceived as more significant and troubling.

4. Other Factors

Other factors can create stress and cause anxiety-like symptoms, as well as aggravate existing anxiety symptoms, including:

• Medication
• Recreational drugs
• Stimulants
• Sleep deprivation
• Fatigue
• Hyper and hypoventilation
• Low blood sugar
• Nutritional deficiencies
• Dehydration
• Hormone changes
• Pain

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