Are Your Ears Ringing?

Well, hi there! How're you doing today? I hope you're fit as a fiddle and that the fiddle is not right next to your ear. Tuck into a virtual treat and wash it down with a mugful of coffee, that's my cure for what ails you! Say...do your ears ever ring? No, I'm not talking cell/mobile phones here! Well listen to what my pal Dr. Al has to say on the subject:

Dear Bob,

You know us doctors … we seem to have different words for everything.

We don’t say “your ears are ringing.” We call it tinnitus. And we don’t call it “hearing loss.” We use words like sensorineural or auditory loss.

Problem is, all those fancy new words aside, standard medicine doesn’t seem to be able to do a darn thing to fix hearing.

Fortunately, you can protect your hearing as you age. You can even make ringing stop. While some doctors will put you on anti-depressants or tranquilizers to help numb your mind, I’ve found some natural remedies can make tinnitus disappear.

A deficiency of one nutrient in particular can affect your hearing more than any other. Almost 70% of Americans are deficient in this mineral, and that number is increasing…

I’m talking about magnesium. You need magnesium for hundreds of processes in your body, and it’s a powerful antioxidant and can even relieve headaches.

But did you know it can improve tinnitus and hearing loss?

A study of military recruits found even a small amount of magnesium every day helped protect the ear from noise-induced damage. Those who got magnesium were less likely to experience permanent hearing damage, and when they did experience hearing damage, it wasn’t severe.

This could be because when the cells in your ear are low on magnesium, it causes you to release catecholamines and prostaglandins, which steal energy from the hair cells in your ears. These cells are connected to your cochlear nerve and they need all the energy they can get to protect themselves after noise exposure.

Also, after loud noises you have a 70% reduction in blood flow to the inner ear.

Why is that important? Because low magnesium reduces microcirculation in your inner ear. So not having enough magnesium and living in our loud modern world is like a double whammy to your hearing.

So magnesium can help your hearing, but here’s what you need to know:

1) You can get more magnesium by eating avocados, nuts, seeds, dairy products and dark green, leafy vegetables. But modern farming practices have depleted much of the mineral content in our soil, so there’s not much magnesium in vegetables any more.

However, don’t substitute grains… even though wheat for example has some magnesium, eating grains can block your absorption of minerals. (Didn't know that! Hmmm...)

2) If you can’t get enough magnesium through food, you can take a supplement. I recommend at least 100 mg a day to help your hearing, but you can take as much as 600 mg a day. Take it with vitamin B6. This will increase the amount of magnesium that accumulates in your cells.

3) Magnesium comes in many different forms. Magnesium carbonate and taurate aren’t absorbed very well, and magnesium oxide can irritate your stomach. Look for magnesium that is bound to citrate, malate, or aspartate so it will get through your gut.

4) Remember that some magnesium sources have been found to be contaminated. You have to be very careful that what you take comes from a reputable brand. I won’t buy any of my raw materials from China anymore because some of them are contaminated with things you don’t want in your body.

To Your Good Health, Al Sears, MD

See ya, eh!

Bob

PS: I take a calcium + magnesium supplement to ward off leg cramps. Seems to help...usually.