Here’s Why You’re Feeling Overstimulated and How To Find Relief

Day-after-day, your physique receives a wealth of sensory data, picked up by the 5 senses of sound, sight, contact, scent or style. The information is relayed to your mind and nervous system, the place it’s processed, so the suitable responses could be carried out. However generally when it is all an excessive amount of and you are feeling overstimulated, the one factor you need is to close down and do nothing. Sound acquainted?

Nevertheless, there’s truly a medical time period for what you are feeling. Sensory overload “is what all of us expertise when we now have an excessive amount of sensory data coming in,” says April Snow, LMFT, a wedding and household therapist based mostly in California who works with extremely delicate and introverted folks. When the sensory enter coming in exceeds what your nervous system can course of, the nervous system misinterprets it as a risk, and this will push it into hyperarousal (combat or flight) or hypoarousal (freeze), Snow explains (extra on this later).

Fortunately, with the proper methods, we will be taught to manage and handle the consequences of sensory overload, says Caitlin Slavens, MC, R Psych, a Canada-based registered psychologist who works commonly with mother and father experiencing overstimulation. Right here, our professional therapists clarify extra details about sensory overload and share recommendations on managing overstimulation.

What causes sensory overload?

“In the event you’re already experiencing nervousness, despair, grief, or going via a whole lot of stress, you are extra prone to expertise sensory overload as a result of your nervous system is already taxed,” says Slavens. And, Snow explains the bucket as being practically empty, so the nervous system is left scrambling, attempting to manage itself with minimal reserves. In different phrases, when you have already got sufficient in your plate, there’s solely a lot extra you possibly can deal with.

Sensory overload can occur for a wealth of causes. For instance, managing the incoming sensory data can also be trickier in your nervous system if you’re feeling sick, hungry, thirsty, drained, or missing restful sleep. However, that is not all.

“Then there are people who find themselves simply extra naturally prone at a baseline,” says Snow. “Like people who’re extremely delicate, on the spectrum, have attention-deficit/hyperactivity dysfunction (ADHD), or have sensory processing dysfunction, the place their brains are taking in sensory data otherwise.” Snow provides that folks with a historical past of long-term trauma may additionally not be capable to regulate their senses effectively, which may enhance their threat of feeling overstimulated extra usually.

The best way to inform for those who’re overstimulated

When your nervous system is overstimulated, it is both going to pop up into combat or flight mode or freeze. Combat or flight is a stress response the place your physique decides it should both confront a risk head-on or escape it altogether. Freeze, then again, happens when your physique feels caught, stiff, or effectively, frozen when confronted with a stressor. Snow explains that “we regularly cycle between the 2 stress responses.”

Whenever you’re in combat or flight, it’s possible you’ll expertise:

However if you’re within the freeze response, it’s possible you’ll really feel:

Torpid or lazy Unhappy Numb Shut down Bother concentrating Issue making choices and finishing actions

“Whenever you’re in these stress states the place your nervous system is dysregulated, your prefrontal cortex, the entrance a part of your mind, goes offline, and with it goes your govt functioning,” explains Snow. “It turns into exhausting to suppose clearly, it is exhausting to make choices, it is exhausting to focus. And once we’re in these states, it is also exhausting to sleep,” she provides.

So, what are you able to do to maintain calm?

Whenever you’re experiencing sensory overload, it might probably usually really feel like there’s nothing you are able to do to cease feeling overwhelmed. However, we’re right here to inform you there is a approach to really feel calm. Listed here are a few of our favourite expert-approved methods to strive once we’re overstimulated.

Inform your self that you’re secure

Speaking to your self could appear odd to some folks, however from my expertise, it really works and is an efficient approach for me to self-soothe. Slavens agrees, and here is why. Say you’re taking care of toddlers who’re crying since you’ve instructed them they solely have 5 minutes left of out of doors play. By reminding your nervous system that you simply’re secure, the nervous system takes its foot off the “risk” pedal, easing away from that combat, flight, or freeze response it was in.

Concentrate on different environment

This tip is particularly useful if you’re unable to get away from the overstimulating object or surroundings that is inflicting the sensory overload. Do that: flip your head, look all the best way to your left, then all the best way to the proper. What you’re aiming to do is absorb extra of the house, as an alternative of locking your gaze and a spotlight on what your nervous system has perceived as a risk, says Snow. It helps you paint an even bigger image of security so your mind and nervous system can begin to really feel some sense of calm.

Decelerate what you’re doing, even when it’s by a fraction

We all know our to-do lists are endless. However as an alternative of speeding via your motion gadgets for the day, let your self decelerate. In slowing issues down, you’re giving your nervous system room to course of the sensory data it has already obtained, in order that it’s primed to absorb no matter data goes to be coming at your subsequent. “My shoppers are at all times shocked by this, it sounds so easy, however it’s efficient,” Snow says.

Separate your self from the overstimulating surroundings 

“If it’s worthwhile to take a sensory break, take that break,” says Slavens. Spend a few minutes by yourself in a rest room, empty room, or within the backyard. By “giving your senses a break, you’re permitting your nervous system to settle, and your thoughts to meet up with processing for a second,” says Snow.

Moms usually say they really feel “touched out” and surprise if it’s advantageous to take a break from holding their younger youngsters. Slavens, who has youngsters of her personal, says sure, it’s. It is okay to place a child down for a few minutes in a secure place whilst you take a sensory break within the close by room. It is okay to say to your youngsters, “Mother’s physique wants some house proper now, so you possibly can sit beside me, however you possibly can’t sit on me.”

We all know you’ve got most likely heard the oxygen masks on the airplane analogy a bunch of occasions, however the sentiment behind it’s true—handle your self earlier than you are unable to handle anybody else.

Observe conscious respiratory

Including some conscious respiratory workouts will help scale back stress and soothe your nervous system when it’s overloaded, our consultants say. Breathe in via your nostril and sigh out via your mouth. We prefer to strive field respiratory, the place you breathe in for 4 counts, maintain it for 4 counts, breathe out for 4 counts, maintain it for 4 counts, and repeat it as many occasions as you want.

Have interaction in bilateral motion

Left-to-right or side-to-side motion, often known as bilateral motion, has the impact of “waking up the mind and permitting it to course of” the data it’s choosing up, says Snow.

Occurring a stroll is a type of bilateral motion. In the event you’re standing and chatting with folks at an occasion, it could possibly be gently shifting your weight between your ft from left to proper. In the event you’re at a gathering or a dinner, it could possibly be tapping your palms in your thighs forwards and backwards below the desk. Whichever bilateral motion you select, partaking in it might probably convey your consciousness again to your physique and away from the data that is overstimulating you.

Apply stress to your physique

“Stress on the stomach is de facto comforting to most individuals’s nervous techniques,” say Snow. She recommends taking your palms and urgent them on the decrease stomach, pulling your knees as much as your chest, or hugging your self. It’s also possible to apply deep stress in your chest utilizing your palms, or place one thing weighted in your physique, similar to a weighted blanket or your furry buddy, Slavens provides.

For an added bonus, strive combining the methods we have already talked about. For instance, put your palms in your chest to present your self some deep stress, observe respiratory, and inform your self, “I am secure.” Having quite a lot of these administration methods in your again pocket is right, so you possibly can shuffle between them if one begins to lose its effectiveness after some time.

When to see a healthcare supplier

Whereas these administration methods we simply mentioned are glorious methods to calm your nervous system down if you’re feeling overstimulated, generally they is probably not sufficient. In case your sensory overload signs are interfering along with your day-to-day functioning, hindering you from doing the belongings you need to do, or occurring commonly, consultants encourage you to achieve out to your healthcare supplier. They’ll be taught extra about your experiences, check you for underlying well being situations, and join you to a psychological well being skilled to offer you further help.

The underside line

Everybody experiences some kind of overstimulation in some unspecified time in the future of their lives. And as irritating as sensory overload could be, it is also simply our physique’s approach of telling us that our nervous system is reaching its most capability to course of data. Whereas it is not simple to protect ourselves fully from overstimulating environments, fortunately, there are tried-and-true strategies to assist maintain our minds and our bodies calm. So the subsequent time issues really feel only a bit an excessive amount of, there are methods you should use to really feel somewhat extra relaxed.