Navigating Sensory Issues in Adults: A Guide
The world bombards us daily with bustling environments, vibrant sights, and resounding sounds. For some of us, these everyday experiences can quickly turn overwhelming, leading to a phenomenon known as sensory overload. When one or more of our senses become inundated, our brains struggle to cope with the flood of information. From busy restaurants to crowded grocery stores, even a single loud sound or a bright light can tip the scales, leaving us feeling stressed, uncomfortable and overwhelmed.
As an adult with sensory processing challenges, particularly as someone who is Autistic-ADHD (AuDHDer), I gained a new appreciation for these moments in my life when I first learned about my neurodivergence. Prior to developing a sensory lens, I simply thought that everyone felt overwhelmed in places like restaurants, grocery stores, movie theaters, or crowded rooms! To better understand my experiences with sensory overload as an adult, I delved into internet research, only to find images of small boys with fidgets and weighted vests. While this was helpful for my parenting, I longed for guidance on navigating sensory issues as an adult.
In this mini-series on sensory regulation and safety, I’ve share strategies drawn from my personal experience as an adult with sensory processing issues and as a clinical psychologist. In today’s article, we will explore what sensory overload is — specifically sensory overload in adults. We will delve into:
Common signs and consequences of sensory overload in ADHD and Autistic adults
How to effectively manage sensory issues
How to cultivate sensory safety as an adult
So, let’s dive in to navigate the world of sensory overload.
What is Sensory Overload?
Sensory overload occurs when our sensory systems become bombarded with more input than they can effectively process. For example, let’s look at the sensory experience of a restaurant. When we enter the restaurant, we step into a busy environment filled with the chatter of people, clinking of dishes, and a medley of aromas – all while the lights flicker and music plays in the background. In such situations, our brains grapple with an excessive influx of sensory data, resulting in discomfort and stress. The intensity of these feelings can vary from mild to severe, depending on the individual and the environment.
As unique as we are, sensory overload manifests differently in each person. In crowded spaces, some of us may experience heightened sensory sensitivity, feeling overwhelmed by even subtle stimuli, while others might become irritable or agitated. The ability to concentrate may diminish significantly when faced with a sensory onslaught, hindering decision-making and organizational skills.
Understanding Sensory Overload in Adults
Although sensory overload can affect anyone occasionally, for adults with ADHD and Autism, it can become a frequent companion. The relentless sensory bombardments can significantly impact our day-to-day lives, making routine tasks exhausting, challenging, and daunting. We'll explore how sensory overload manifests in ADHD and Autistic adult populations and the specific difficulties this can create for us.
Symptoms of Sensory Overload in Adults
Symptoms of sensory overload in adults vary widely and are influenced by individual sensory profiles. Some common experiences include:
Feeling overwhelmed, anxious, or stressed in sensory-rich environments. Adults may experience difficulty focusing, concentrating, or maintaining attention due to excessive sensory input in the attentional foreground and difficulty filtering out background sensory input.
Feeling overwhelmed, anxious, or stressed in sensory-rich environments.
Adults may experience difficulty focusing, concentrating, or maintaining attention due to excessive sensory input and difficulty filtering out background sensory input.
Physical manifestations such as headaches, fatigue, muscle tension, or heightened sensitivity to sensory stimuli can also occur.
Emotional reactions may range from irritability and frustration to feeling emotionally drained or overwhelmed.
Some individuals may engage in coping mechanisms such as withdrawing from social interactions, seeking solitude, or engaging in repetitive behaviors to self-regulate (stimming).
Sensory overload can result in insomnia and restless sleep.
The person may feel restless, agitated, and irritable and have more difficulty managing their emotions.
Sensory overload can also result in shutdowns leading to mild dissociation and feeling foggy or numbed out.
Sensory overload can manifest differently for each person, and being attuned to our specific signs of sensory overload is key to understanding how to intervene and help manage sensory overload.
11 Signs of Sensory Overload in Adults
While the symptoms of sensory overload provide a broad understanding, recognizing your own signs of sensory overload is crucial for managing it effectively. If you suspect you have sensory sensitivities, here are eleven specific signs to watch for:
Heightened sensitivity to sounds, especially loud or sudden noises typical in household environments or workplaces
Discomfort in brightly lit or fluorescently illuminated environments, such as offices or stores
Difficulty concentrating in settings with multiple stimuli, impacting work performance or daily tasks
Feeling overwhelmed in crowded places, like public transportation, malls, or social events
Aversion to certain textures or fabrics that make selecting clothing or bedding challenging
Distress from strong or pervasive odors, affecting the ability to be in certain public spaces or use common household products
Physical discomfort or aversion to specific food textures and tastes, complicating meal preparation and dining out
Experiencing constant fatigue from the need to process an overload of sensory information, impacting energy levels for personal and professional commitments
Increased irritability or anxiety in environments with sensory overload, affecting relationships and social interactions
Physical symptoms like headaches or nausea in sensory-rich environments, alongside challenges such as finding the demands of parenting young children or managing adult responsibilities difficult due to sensory sensitivities
Difficulty with aspects of intimacy and sex due to sensory adversions.
How To Manage Sensory Issues As An Adult
Realizing in adulthood that you have a sensory processing disorder can be an eye-opening experience. Discovering that not everyone experiences the world as an intense sensory bombardment unlocks a new level of understanding and a whirlwind of emotions. Many feel a mix of surprise, confusion, and a sense of mourning for the years spent struggling without this knowledge. When I came to terms with my own sensory sensitivities, the world's loudness and overwhelming nature hit me harder, sparking feelings of sorrow, frustration, and even despair.
Adults face unique challenges and opportunities in dealing with sensory issues, distinct from those encountered by children. Managing these issues requires developing a mindful approach, acknowledging our sensory boundaries, and taking deliberate steps towards creating a sensory-friendly environment. Embracing our sensory experiences with kindness and patience is crucial. Recognizing and mourning the ways our sensory challenges have shaped our lives allows us to take proactive measures in safeguarding our well-being. By understanding our sensory needs and making conscious choices to support them, we open the door to empowerment and resilience in the face of sensory adversity.
Shifting Perspective: Living with Sensory Issues
A common question I encounter is how one can gain control over sensory issues. To this, I offer a nuanced perspective: while it may not be possible to control these issues fully, we can certainly learn to live alongside them more harmoniously. Acceptance plays a key role here; it allows us to embrace our sensory sensitivities and uncover joy in experiences we once might have shied away from.
Living well with sensory issues involves a continuous process of self-awareness and the adoption of accommodations tailored to our needs. For example, creating a quiet, sensory-friendly space at home or using noise-canceling headphones in noisy environments or relaxing at the end of a sensory-rich day with a weighted blanket can make a significant difference. By cultivating self-awareness and developing effective coping strategies, we can create a sense of balance in our sensory journeys.
Acknowledging Your Sensory Limits
For those of us diagnosed later in life, recognizing the emotions tied to our sensory struggles is a vital step toward self-awareness and kindness. Many of us have become adept at pushing past our limits to meet the world's demands. Yet, acknowledging and respecting our sensory boundaries is crucial for our daily well-being and to prevent the relentless cycle of burnout.
My journey of acknowledging sensory limits has been both pivotal and challenging. The grief I've experienced over sensory-driven disconnections—missed joys at family gatherings, school events, and vacations—has been profound. Recognizing that moments I longed to cherish were being overshadowed by my sensory sensitivities was painful. Understanding that not everyone experiences these events in a state of sensory overload brought both clarity and sorrow.
However, this acknowledgment also paved the way for setting necessary boundaries and building a life less burdened by constant sensory overload. It was a process that began with grieving the realities of my limitations. Only through this grief could I truly understand and advocate for my needs, finding solace in quieter, sensory-friendly environments for meaningful connections.
Acknowledging our sensory limits and needs—and the grief that may accompany this acknowledgment—allows us to embrace self-compassion and advocate for ourselves more effectively. This mindset shift is the first step toward meaningful change, guiding us to manage our sensory issues with greater care and understanding. It's a balance of mourning what cannot be and embracing the strategies that allow us to navigate our world more comfortably.
Cultivating Sensory Safety
Once we've acknowledged our sensory limits and processed the emotions tied to them, the path to cultivating sensory safety becomes clearer. The initial step is gaining a deep understanding of our sensory profile. This means developing a sensory lens to identify our preferences, triggers, and soothers. By engaging in this exploration, we lay the foundation for creating a personalized sensory safety plan tailored to our needs. This approach not only helps us understand our sensory interactions but also equips us with the tools to navigate our environment more comfortably.
Exploring Your Sensory Profile
Exploring our sensory profile is a critical step, though it might seem simple at first glance. For those of us who have spent years navigating through sensory overload, there's a real chance we've become disconnected from our bodies. Alternatively, the constant barrage of sensory input may have made it difficult to distinguish between what genuinely brings pleasure and what triggers overload. By developing a sensory lens, we’re able to deep dive into the complex landscape of our sensory experiences. . Exploring our sensory preferences, triggers, and soothers enriches our understanding of how we interact with our surroundings on a sensory level.
Getting to Know Your Sensory Preferences
The first step is to gain clarity about our sensory preferences by taking the time to explore and understand what sensory experiences bring comfort, joy, or a sense of calm. By tuning into our senses and paying attention to what feels pleasant or soothing, we can uncover the specific sights, sounds, textures, tastes, and smells that resonate with us on a sensory level. This self-discovery process allows us to develop a deeper understanding of our sensory preferences and lays the foundation for creating a sensory environment that supports us.
Identifying Your Sensory Triggers
This next step involves pinpointing the specific sensory experiences that lead to discomfort, stress, or a sense of being overwhelmed. These sensory triggers, unique to each of us, can significantly impact our well-being. By observing the moments when we feel most dysregulated or overloaded, we can begin to discern the patterns and types of stimuli that pose challenges. This journey toward self-awareness is key in recognizing the particular sights, sounds, smells, textures, or other sensory inputs that may lead to discomfort. Understanding our sensory triggers equips us with the knowledge to better manage our environments and approach potentially overwhelming situations with a newfound sense of control and confidence.
Discovering Your Sensory Soothers
The final step is to spend time identifying our sensory soothers. Though it might seem akin to recognizing our sensory preferences, there's a nuanced distinction. Sensory soothers are the activities, strategies, and resources that bring us back to equilibrium when we're feeling overwhelmed or dysregulated. They're our go-to sensory inputs for when we need to recalibrate and find our center again. This could mean engaging in rhythmic movements, listening to soothing melodies, experiencing deep pressure touch, or retreating to a serene and comfortable space. Uncovering what uniquely soothes us enables us to deliberately weave these elements into our routines, arming us with effective strategies to face sensory challenges head-on.
Building Sensory Accommodations Into Your Life
With a clearer understanding of our sensory profile in hand, we can move toward integrating sensory accommodations into our daily lives—an empowering action that fosters a supportive environment attuned to our sensory needs. Incorporating sensory-friendly elements into our personal and professional spaces, and employing effective tools and strategies, allows us to improve our sensory well-being. This proactive approach helps us to manage daily challenges more smoothly, ensuring that our environments are in harmony with our sensory preferences, triggers, and soothers. By making these intentional adjustments, we create spaces that not only respect our sensory needs but also enhance our overall quality of life.
Creating a Sensory-Friendly Environment
Creating a sensory-friendly environment requires careful reflection of your sensory preferences and triggers. This process might involve customizing lighting to lessen glare, reducing background noise for auditory ease, tidying and decluttering areas to achieve visual tranquility, and introducing comforting textures and aromas. It may also involve putting together a sensory soothing kit.
By tailoring your surroundings to meet your sensory needs, you craft a sensory sanctuary that fosters calmness and relaxation. This deliberate arrangement ensures that your space not only accommodates your sensory profile but also becomes a place of refuge and comfort.
Utilizing Sensory Tools and Strategies
Beyond shaping a sensory-friendly environment, embracing sensory supports and incorporating practices in our daily routines offers crucial support. These resources can significantly enhance our ability to manage sensory input and maintain emotional equilibrium. Consider incorporating the following:
Noise-canceling headphones: An effective way to diminish auditory distractions, allowing for greater focus and calm in noisy environments
Fidget toys or stress balls: Provide tactile stimulation that can help redirect nervous energy and enhance concentration
Deep breathing exercises or mindfulness techniques: These practices are instrumental in regulating emotions and reducing stress, aiding in sensory modulation
Physical activities or repetitive movements: Activities like walking, rocking, or using a weighted blanket can promote proprioceptive input, which helps in grounding and calming the body
By weaving these tools and strategies into our lives, we develop a more proactive and effective approach to navigating our sensory world.
Creating Sensory Downtime
Allocating time for sensory downtime is pivotal in giving our sensory system the opportunity to rest and rejuvenate. This practice is a cornerstone for promoting overall wellness and averting the pitfalls of sensory overload.
Importance of Sensory Rest and Recharge
The role of sensory rest and recharge cannot be overstated in maintaining a balanced sensory life. By intentionally taking breaks from environments, activities, or inputs that are overly stimulating, we offer our nervous system a chance to recalibrate and regain its balance. This pause in sensory input is vital for allowing sensory processing mechanisms to reset and stabilize. Integrating what I like to refer to as “sensory detox” periods into our daily schedule is not just beneficial—it's essential. These planned moments of tranquility and restoration are key to supporting our sensory health, enabling us to navigate our days with renewed energy and safeguarding against the continuous cycle of sensory burnout.
Incorporating Self-Care and Relaxation Techniques
Self-care and relaxation techniques stand as essential practices in managing sensory sensitivities effectively. Engaging in activities that soothe and down-regulate the nervous system plays a crucial role in regulating sensory input and reducing stress. Whether it's through deep breathing exercises, gentle stretching, enjoying calming baths, using vagal nerve stimulators like the Sensate (affiliate link) or indulging in quiet, creative projects, these practices can significantly aid in achieving sensory balance.
It's worth noting that the conventional self-care routines, such as meditation and mindfulness, might not always resonate with everyone, particularly for those of us with ADHD. Thus, it becomes imperative to explore and identify self-care activities that genuinely work for you, even if they stray from the traditional notions of what self-care is supposed to look like. By embracing and integrating these personalized self-care practices into our daily routines, we offer our sensory and nervous systems the essential respite they need to function optimally, ensuring we maintain our well-being and keep sensory overload at bay.
Further Learning and Resources
To deepen your understanding and expand your toolkit for managing sensory challenges, explore the following resources.
Neurodivergent Insights Articles:
Explore a variety of articles that delve into different aspects of neurodiversity, offering practical advice, personal reflections, and research-based insights. Visit Neurodivergent Insights.
The Sensory Regulation 101 Digital Workbook:
A comprehensive guide to understanding and managing sensory processing issues. It provides detailed instructions, exercises, sensory checklists and useful worksheets designed to assist you in crafting your sensory safety
Online Forums and Support Groups:
Engaging with communities of individuals navigating similar sensory challenges can also be helpful. People have created forums on Reddit specifically for neurodivergent adults, providing spaces for discussion, shared experiences, and support. Additionally, numerous free Facebook groups exist, created by individuals and communities for similar purposes.
For those seeking a more intimate space away from the broader social media landscape, exploring our community at Neurodivergent Insights offers a welcoming and focused environment tailored to neurodivergent adults.
Mindfulness and Relaxation Apps:
Apps such as Calm, Headspace, and 59 Breaths, offer guided meditations, breathing exercises, and relaxation techniques tailored to reduce sensory overload and promote mental well-being.
Vagal Nerve Stimulators and Nervous System Supports:
Considering that the sensory system is an integral component of our nervous system, tools that aid in regulating the nervous system can also enhance sensory regulation. Vagal nerve stimulators, such as the Sensate, work to activate the body's relaxation response. They can be a potent supplement to sensory detox time, offering a novel approach to managing sensory and nervous system challenges. For those looking for holistic ways to support their sensory and overall nervous system health, integrating vagal nerve stimulation into your routine could provide significant benefits.
Bonus: You can use my code to get 10% off the Sensate.
Conclusion
In wrapping up, managing sensory issues as an adult is a complex journey that involves self-exploration, fostering self-compassion, and taking deliberate steps towards improvement. Recognizing and respecting our sensory struggles and limitations, understanding our sensory profile, and actively working towards creating a sensory-safe environment empower us to handle sensory overload with more resilience and control.
Throughout this discussion, we've emphasized the critical aspects of recognizing sensory overload, pinpointing sensory triggers and soothers, integrating sensory accommodations, and ensuring regular sensory downtime. These strategies are vital in shaping a sensory-friendly living space, enhancing our ability to self-regulate, and building our resilience against sensory challenges.
For those seeking further guidance and practical resources on cultivating sensory safety, the Sensory Regulation 101 workbook offers support. It provides detailed instructions, engaging exercises, and useful worksheets designed to assist you in crafting your sensory safety plan and compiling a personalized toolkit to navigate sensory challenges effectively.
