Your hearing health

Can anxiety cause dizziness and ear pressure?

Understand the links between anxiety, dizziness and ear pressure.

Last update on May, 05, 2025

Have you ever felt a sensation of anxiety along with dizziness or ear pressure? If so, you might have wondered if all of these symptoms could be related. It is possible that they could be. Learn more about the potential connections between anxiety, dizziness and ear pressure to understand the potential causes — and how to deal with your symptoms.

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Key Takeaways

Anxiety, dizziness and ear pressure could potentially be connected.
Anxiety is a psychological condition that can have physical and physiological effects.
Strained muscles, pressure on nerves and stress hormones can lead to feelings of dizziness or ear pressure.
Ear pressure and dizziness related to anxiety can be treated with vestibular rehabilitation, specialized exercises or acupressure.
Mindfulness practices like meditation and breathing can help you manage these symptoms, as can talk therapy.

Does anxiety cause dizziness and ear pressure?

Anxiety is a feeling of fear or worry that can cause symptoms like sweating, shakiness and increased heart rate. While it’s normal to feel a bit of anxiety in stressful situations, some people experience anxiety disorders that lead to feeling overwhelmed in everyday situations. If you’ve ever experienced this sensation and wondered “Does anxiety cause dizziness?” or “Does anxiety cause ear pressure?,” the answer to both questions is yes — it can.

Physical anxiety symptoms can show up as anything from a racing heartbeat to tinnitus to pain in different parts of the body. There are a variety of ways that anxiety can trigger ear pressure or dizziness, from hormones¹ to tensed muscles².

When we experience anxiety, the body releases hormones that are intended to help us cope with perceived dangers. These hormones can set off other reactions in the body that manifest as physical symptoms like dizziness. And, as a result of muscle tension related to anxiety, ear symptoms like a feeling of fullness or pressure can also appear.

One of the challenges of anxiety is that it can make people hyper-aware of what is happening in their bodies. So even when minor symptoms appear, anxiety can make the situation seem more intense. If you experience any of the following symptoms, talk to a physician.

Vertigo, a sensation that you or your surroundings are spinning, is often linked to problems with the inner ear. The anatomy that enables both hearing and balance is tucked away in this small area that is densely packed with nerves, ducts and delicate organs. Anxiety can affect all of it with increased blood flow, tension on the nerves and hormones that cause these dizzy episodes. Additionally, the symptoms of vertigo can cause more anxiety, creating a feedback loop.

Anxiety can also lead to headaches, whether those are tension headaches caused by tight muscles or migraines triggered by stress. When dealing with a headache, ear pressure and dizziness may follow. Chronic or severe headaches may also lead to more anxiety.

Constant dizziness can both be caused by anxiety and contribute to anxiety. For those dealing with chronic dizziness, anxiety is something that should be diagnosed and managed, especially if there are no physical issues that seem to be causing it.

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Conditions connected to anxiety, ear pressure and dizziness

The combination of anxiety, ear pressure and dizziness may be tied to certain health conditions for which all three can be symptoms.

Because of the proximity of the body’s hearing and balance controls within the inner ear, conditions that affect the area, such as Meniere’s disease or vestibular migraines, may cause the combination of ear pressure and dizziness. Anxiety, as mentioned above, can be an added influence on these conditions, but might also be caused by them.

Anxiety can contribute to TMJ disorders (the temporomandibular joint in the jaw is abbreviated as the TMJ). Dizziness, ear pressure and ear ringing (tinnitus) can all be symptoms of a TMJ disorder. These usually develop when a person clenches their jaw or grinds their teeth when feeling stressed or anxious.

How to relieve dizziness and ear pressure from anxiety

Looking for answers about how to relieve ear pressure from anxiety? Or how to relieve dizziness from anxiety? The good news is that you have options. Start by talking to a physician about your symptoms, and they can direct you toward treatments that will help you find relief.

One option for dizziness and vertigo treatment is a type of physical therapy called vestibular rehabilitation. This therapy, which includes working with a physical therapist in-office as well as doing at-home exercises, focuses on improving balance and coordination and can help reduce the symptoms and effects of dizziness.

If you suffer from anxiety-induced dizziness, you might also benefit from vertigo exercises such as the Epley maneuver, which uses neck movements to reposition calcium crystals in the inner ear. Before you try vertigo exercises, it’s important to talk to a physician to ensure you know what’s causing your vertigo.

If you suffer from anxiety-induced ear pressure, you might want to try acupressure for blocked ear symptoms. Acupressure involves putting targeted pressure on specific points on your body to help relieve symptoms of pain or discomfort.

You can also talk to a physician about vertigo medication or medication for ear congestion. These might include types of over-the-counter anti-nausea medication like meclizine to help with dizziness, or congestion medication like pseudoephedrine to help relieve sinus pressure or plugged ears. Depending on your condition, your physician might also consider prescription medications. That could include medication for anxiety, which could be beneficial in helping you manage your stress levels.

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Ways to manage anxiety, ear pressure and dizziness

If dizziness and ear pressure have been contributing to your anxiety, it may be time to seek help and try some of the following options.

If anxiety causes problems in your daily life, you may want to explore therapy options. Therapy for anxiety may include various forms of talk therapy, where you talk to a licensed professional about your concerns and learn techniques to help you cope with your stress.

Many therapists employ treatment techniques such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy to help clients get to the root of their anxiety and trauma.

Meditation for stress and anxiety can also be helpful. This practice of focused thinking has many benefits, including reducing symptoms of anxiety and promoting emotional health.

It’s important to be consistent with meditation to experience the full benefits; experts recommend practicing between five and 45 minutes per day.

Deep and deliberate breathing can be helpful if you’re dealing with anxiety and stress. There are many different breathing exercises for anxiety; some involve paying close attention to your body as you breathe, while others have you count your breaths.

A therapist can teach you breathing exercises to try at home and many meditation apps also offer guided breathwork sessions.

Movement is another way to help improve your mental health. Running, yoga and even simply walking offer benefits for physical and mental health. Running or other types of cardio can boost your mood, while slower exercises like walking or yoga can help you feel calmer and practice mindfulness.

Most people know that sleep and anxiety affect one another. It’s hard to get a restful night of sleep if your brain is wired, and on the other hand, not getting adequate sleep will result in you feeling even more stressed. This is why prioritizing quality sleep is important.

A few steps you can take to improve your sleep are staying off screens in the hour or so before bed, using room-darkening shades and sticking to a consistent sleep schedule.

Experiencing symptoms of vertigo?

If you’re noticing symptoms of vertigo, visit your doctor.

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FAQs about anxiety, ear pressure and dizziness

Physical reactions to anxiety, such as tensing your shoulders, jaw or neck, can restrict blood flow, or constrict nerves in the inner ear, which can in turn disrupt the vestibular system that helps you maintain balance. Nervous breathing, such as hyperventilation, can reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in your blood, which also causes dizziness³.

Indirectly, it is possible for an ear infection to cause anxiety. A bad ear infection that spreads deep into the ear can lead to hearing changes and balance issues that are very concerning to the person experiencing them. With too much focus on those problems, anxiety can take hold.

If you’re having trouble managing your concerns about an ear infection, speak with a physician and/or a therapist to find solutions.

Feeling off-balance but not dizzy from anxiety might indicate disruption to the vestibular system. Clenching your jaw or tensing your shoulders can affect the nerves and organs that help control your balance.

Anxiety dizziness can feel like a few different things. It might manifest as vertigo (a spinning sensation), dizziness or wooziness, or a sensation of being off balance.

Sources

¹ Juhn SK, Li W, Kim JY, Javel E, Levine S, Odland RM. Effect of stress-related hormones on inner ear fluid homeostasis and function. Am J Otol. 1999 Nov;20(6):800-6. PMID: 10565728. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10565728/.

² Horner KC. The emotional ear in stress. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2003 Aug;27(5):437-46. doi: 10.1016/s0149-7634(03)00071-x. PMID: 14505685.https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S014976340300071X?via%3Dihub.

³ Sharma S, Hashmi MF. Hypocarbia. [Updated 2023 Feb 19]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2025 Jan-. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK493167/.