Sensory Overload is Real and It’s Okay and Important to Disconnect

Have any of you ever experienced sensory overload before? Depending on who you are you can start feeling the symptoms of overload coming on before they happen. For me, if I am too visually overstimulated, I get a headache and my eyes start hurting. I also can easily catch myself getting overstimulated when its too hot or cold or loud somewhere. Part of that is from my ADHD but also I think our world is so fast paced that it can be easy for us to forget to watch our sensory input. This is true of children too, not just adults. Many of our environments are not set up in a sensory friendly way. Yes, we often think of this moreso with individuals with sensory processing disorders or autism but many of us can get overstimulated, especially with as much as we utilize technology throughout every state of our lives. Often times we do not fully disconnect.

We take in information through our five senses- sight, touch, taste, smell, and hearing. Do you ever have one that you are more sensitive to receiving input from? How do you take breaks from input reception? Like I mentioned many of us receive information constantly, especially visually, through technology. Every hour we should be stepping away from the screen for at least 5 minutes. Looking at screens for that long causes strains on the eyes and often our posture is not great either. How else do you receive information? Are you constantly receiving auditory information via music, meetings, etc. It is also important to remove constant noise and distraction as you can. These are just a few different ways that we receive sensory input and information. Sensory wellness is one of the last areas of wellness that we are diving into. This area is really just what has been mentioned, recognizing our sensory input and removing it before we get overwhelmed or removing ourselves from the situation. Again children can get overwhelmed and overloaded too. Sometimes this may come out through behavior with any of us. As we are diving into root causes of behavior, understanding where we are on our level of sensory stimulation is important to monitor. We are not our best selves when we are overstimulated. Take breaks. Be kind to yourself. Keep an eye out on your levels of stimulation and find ways to level it out. For those of you who have or work with children, keep an eye out on them. Start finding those cues that you can tell they are getting overstimulated. There is nothing wrong with going into a dark quiet room every once in a while or taking a step away. We all deserve it!

How can you tell when you are getting overstimulated? How can you readjust life or boundaries to remove overstimulation?