Can Stress Cause Vertigo?

Chronic stress has been known to trigger unpleasant physical symptoms, ranging from mild inconveniences such as headaches, all the way to very serious ones such as heart disease and stroke.

A question commonly asked by stress sufferers is, “can stress cause vertigo?”. In this article, we will go over what exactly vertigo is, what other causes it might possibly have, and whether or not stress can cause it, and if so, how.

Let’s get straight into it.

What Is Vertigo?

Vertigo can be accurately described as a sensation of feeling off-balance, or uncentered, physically. A more commonly used name for it is dizziness, but it’s improperly used, as vertigo can be more than mere dizziness.

People who experience vertigo most often describe feeling the following symptoms:

• A spinning-like sensation, making it seem like their body, or head, is spinning even when standing still.

• Loss of balance, the inability to properly maintain their body’s balance while standing, or in more severe vertigo instances, even when sitting.

• A sensation of feeling like their body, or head, is tilted to one side. Alternatively, the sensation can feel as if the floor is tilted, even when it’s straight.

• Feeling as if they are being pulled to one direction. Pretty much feeling some sort of invisible force pull parts of their body, or their entire body, in one specific direction.

Somewhat less common but still frequent symptoms of vertigo include hearing a ringing noise in one or both ears, an upset stomach and general nausea, and the urge to vomit. Nystagmus (sudden involuntary eye movements), sweating and headaches were also sometimes reported in cases of vertigo.

Vertigo bouts can last from as little as a few seconds to as long as several hours or more, and can be recurrent, especially if the root cause is left unaddressed.

Can Stress Cause Vertigo?

Stress can most certainly cause vertigo, and it is one of the most common causes behind vertigo.

Stress is known to increase the level of hormones such as cortisol, which is known to negatively impact a lot of parts in the human body, including the vestibular system.

The vestibular system is the system that is responsible for maintaining our balance when standing, or walking, or generally holding our torsos in a vertical position.

The vestibular system is also responsible for our coordination, and as such, some finer movements may also become harder to do while experiencing vertigo.

Vertigo that is caused by chronic stress can, and usually does, get worse over time, if the stress is left unaddressed. This can lead to being put in harmful and dangerous situations, such as falls down stairs.

This, and the fact that stress can kill you in more direct ways as well, is why it’s important to treat underlying stress issues as soon as possible.

Other Possible Causes For Vertigo

Vertigo is sometimes also caused by other underlying conditions aside from stress, such as:

• Brain damage - Damage to the brain’s areas responsible for balance and coordination that has resulted from a stroke, tumor, physical trauma, toxicity, or other factors.

• Ear infection - An infection of one or both ears can impede with the ears’ ability to communicate positional information in relation to gravity to the brain, leading to vertigo and general dizziness. This is usually resolved after the infection is dealt with.

• Prolonged bed rest - Laying down for excessive amounts of time can lead to vertigo due to the body needing to get readjusted to the feeling of standing up, and the process of acquiring proper balance. This is almost always a temporary issue that resolves itself and requires no special aid or attention to remedy. If, however, vertigo persists, other factors may be at play, which may require medically specialized attention.

• Nerve damage - Nerves in the inner ear that were damaged, either due to physical trauma or injury from things such as an accident or nicotine abuse or otherwise, can lead to vertigo, due to their inability or impaired ability to communicate balance-related information to the brain.

• BPPV - BPPV, the abbreviation for benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, is a condition that occurs when canaliths get dislodged from where they’re supposed to be, and gather in the inner ear. Canaliths are very small particles of calcium, and by flooding the inner ear, they cause vertigo.

• Tumor - Brain tumors have been known to cause vertigo, because of the pressure, as well as damage, that they inflict on the brain. The damage, pressure, or both, can severely inhibit the brain’s ability to receive information of all kinds, including but not limited to information regarding balance from the spine and the inner ears.

• Spinning too much - Vertigo can also be induced by actually spinning too much. In this case, it occurs because the brain and body are getting readjusted to normal balance conditions, and it usually doesn’t last for longer than a couple of minutes.

• Spinal injuries - Injuries sustained to the spine lead to vertigo and overall difficulty in achieving and maintaining balance when standing, and especially when walking and/or running. This is because the spine plays a very important role in helping the brain determine the body’s position in relation to gravity, as well as due to the fact that the spine is a continuation of the brain itself.

• Cold or flu - Having a cold, or the seasonal flu, has been known to occasionally cause vertigo in patients diagnosed with these. One of the reasons behind these two illnesses occasionally causing vertigo is that the line of communication between the brain and inner ear may be partially disrupted during the duration of the illness, making it harder for the inner ear to communicate information to the brain about balance.

Conclusion

Can stress cause vertigo? It sure can. It can also cause a ton of other health issues that both diminish quality of life, and shorten the lifespan of sufferers.

Lots of other things have also been linked to vertigo. It’s important to get checked out by a healthcare professional to determine the cause, and plan your next steps.

All in all, vertigo’s most usual cause tends to be chronic stress, which is why it’s good to manage and lower your stress levels in order to lessen intensity and regularity of vertigo.

Take care, and stay healthy and stress-free.