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Tinnitus Seems to Be Somehow Linked to a Crucial Bodily Function, Studies Hint - ScienceAlert

Tinnitus Seems to Be Somehow Linked to a Crucial Bodily Function, Studies Hint - ScienceAlert

Tinnitus Seems to Be Somehow Linked to a Crucial Bodily Function, Studies Hint - ScienceAlert
May 20, 2022 1 min, 24 secs

When we sleep, activity in these same brain areas also changes.

One of the most important stages of sleep is slow-wave sleep (also known as deep sleep), which is thought to be the most restful stage of sleep.

During slow-wave sleep, brain activity moves in distinctive "waves" through the different areas of the brain, activating large areas together (such as those involved with memory and processing sounds) before moving on to others.

Simply put, we believe that tinnitus keeps the brain from producing the slow-wave activity needed to have a deep sleep, resulting in light and interrupted sleep.

But even though tinnitus patients have less deep sleep on average than people without tinnitus, the research we looked at in our review suggests that some deep sleep is hardly affected by tinnitus.

Slow-wave activity has also been shown to interfere with the communication between brain areas. During deepest sleep, when slow-wave activity is strongest, this may keep hyperactive regions from disturbing other brain areas and from interrupting sleep.

We believe that changes in brain connectivity during sleep are contributing to what makes tinnitus last for a long time after an initial trigger (such as hearing loss).

While we suspect that deep sleep is the most likely to affect tinnitus, there are many other stages of sleep that happen (such as rapid eye movement, or REM sleep) – each with unique patterns of brain activity.

In future research, both the sleep stage and tinnitus activity in the brain could be tracked at the same time by recording brain activity.

This may help to find out more about the link between tinnitus and sleep and understand how tinnitus may be alleviated by natural brain activity.

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