You wake up one morning and suddenly your ears can't seem to stop ringing. You shrug it off because it's not the first time it's happened. It happened in your high school party when you were too close to the band drummer. It happened when you got slapped by someone. It also happened when you got too close to a firecracker. Nothing similar to those things happened last night and its midday and the ringing is still there and it's starting to drive you nuts. You ask yourself while wiggling your finger in your ear, what causes ears to ring?

A condition called tinnitus is what causes ears to ring. It's a condition where there is a constant ringing, buzzing or tingling in the ears despite the absence of an external source. You're not alone. Many people have this condition so you expect to find some treatment for it. So what causes tinnitus?

Tinnitus is caused by many reasons. Look at the following reasons and maybe you're guilty of one of them.

• Exposure to loud noises - Constant exposure to loud noise is one common cause of tinnitus. If you like your iPod set on full while listening to Linkin Park, please cut back.
• Old age - You start to feel things when you hit past 30. Parts of the body deteriorate with old age. The same goes with your ears. What's that sonny?
• Stress and poor lifestyle - Stress does things to people. Man was not meant to make or look at thousands of pages of spreadsheets. Throw in an all-day diet of McDonalds/fast food and your ears will start to ring.
• Head trauma - a heavy to severe blow in the head can damage to the inner ear and causes your ears to ring.
• Meniere's disease - Tinnitus is just a symptom of other problems. One of them is this disease. Menieres is a problem caused by the buildup of fluid in the inner ear. The pressure caused by the buildup is what causes ears to ring.
• Acoustic or brain tumor - this cause really takes the cake but do not discount this possibility. Any pressure inside the head especially near the inner ear region or any nerve that affects hearing can cause tinnitus.

Here are several tips to relieve tinnitus.

• Ignorance is bliss – In mild cases, some people can ignore the noise themselves or seek behavioral and cognitive therapy.
• Isolate yourself from loud noises – a few days of peace and quiet can heal damage to the ears caused by loud noise.
• Make use of tinnitus masking devices available on the market – they are meant to cancel out the ringing noise with something more soothing.
• Have a balanced diet, more zinc and vitamin B. Take it easy. Have a vacation
• If all else fails, consult a doctor.