Also Known As - Giving Your Nervous System A Break
People! Listen up! What if I told you I had the key to successful relationships?? Your people NEED you to understand this concept!
As an occupational therapist, the sensory system is my wheelhouse! It is the foundation for most of my therapeutic interactions. It is the key to perceiving the world. It is the underlying principle of self-regulation, the key to understanding anxiety, and the quintessential factor of felt-safety. I guarantee that if you can get in touch with, and attend to your sensory system, you will be in your sweet spot for connection and function. As I have said again and again, if you can learn to regulate your own responses, you have a key step in helping your children learn to regulate their own bodies.
Stop right now. Take a minute and conjure up your most recent memory of being calm, grounded and peaceful.
Close your eyes. Dig deep. My guess is you had a hard time finding that memory, and if you did find it, it was quite a while ago. What does it look like? Where was it? Is it quiet? What sounds do you hear? Are your muscles relaxed? Are your breaths slow and steady?
That feeling - those sensations, are what you need more of.
If your life is anything like mine, you are inundated with noise everyday, all the time. When I say noise, I don’t just mean something auditory; I am talking about the kind of “noise” that overwhelms your senses: bright lights, screaming toddlers,the repetitive chorus of “Baby Shark,” the flutter in your stomach as you face the never-ending “to do” list, or the constant ping of notifications rolling in. Your body is in “go” mode all the time.
My guess is you have lost the urgency to find “quiet.”. In the extra moments, instead of seeking stillness, you inadvertently reach for your phone or flip on the TV. You choose things that overwhelm your senses more, instead of the less you need.
Our bodies have the gift of taking sensory input from the world around us and processing that input in our brain to create our response. This sensory input allows us to experience the world in all its beauty and wonder, in the mundane and the extraordinary.
However, we all need a break from sensory input every now and again. We all need a break from the constant light and noise of screens. We all need a timeout from the sugars we consume and the faux flavors in our coffee. We all need to find the silence and stillness in the small moments of our daily lives. These breaks and this stillness I’m talking about are sensory rest, and I want to explore this topic with you today.
What Is Sensory Fatigue?
Before we get to the rest part of our discussion, let’s back up. We need to talk about sensory fatigue before we can talk about sensory rest.
Your nervous system experiences constant, sometimes excessive, sensory input in every moment. You hop in the car and turn on the music. You walk down the street and simultaneously smell your neighbor’s breakfast, the trash at the end of your driveway, and the flowers you pass by. Your little one can’t seem to remember the difference between inside and outside voices today. Perhaps your other child has been pulling on your shirt, grabbing your hand, touching your face, and trying to nuzzle you for the past two hours.
When you start to name every sensory input throughout your day, it can feel overwhelming. You start to notice just how much your nervous system endures. At some moment or another, you crack. Without realizing how you got there, it all suddenly becomes too much. The result is you snap at your kids or your husband, or you get a headache.
Sensory input is not bad, but when we have too much of it without any breaks we experience sensory fatigue. We all have a certain window of tolerance. If we stay within its limits, we can function properly but when we go beyond our limits, we lose rational control.
We have reached sensory fatigue.
How Do We Find Sensory Rest?
We can’t create moments of reduced sensory input. Total sensory deprivation is impossible ( actually that is a from of torture!), but we can get rid of one sensory input here or there in order to find some rest for our senses. To find sensory rest, we need to take a break from one more of these inputs regularly. This can be simple, as there are often constant sensory inputs we endure without even realizing it.
How Do You Know If You Need Sensory Rest?
If you are a parent in this high-speed, device-driven world, I can nearly guarantee that you could use some good sensory rest. However, here are some indicators of sensory fatigue:
Loud noise makes you flinch or wince or have some sort of adverse reaction
You don’t enjoy the occasional sensory-rich experience such as a concert or going to the movie theater
You don’t seem to notice or pick up on the scents that others smell strongly
You don’t enjoy being touched or hugged by others; even the people closest to you
You regularly experience eye strain or fatigue and/or blurry vision
You crave mainly processed foods and don’t experience much flavor in natural foods
You find yourself snapping at the slightest offense from your kids, friends or significant other.
Maybe, you checked yes to some or all of the above. What now?
What Can You Do to Get Sensory Rest?
Here are some quick ways you get sensory rest in your daily life:
Take time to unplug. Schedule a time in the evening where you turn off your computer, put away your phone, and leave the TV behind. You might think I’m crazy, but all of these devices and electronics are affecting our senses constantly and taking a break will do wonders for your sensory rest. If doing this every night feels impossible, maybe try taking an hour break every few days.
Go outside. Take deep breaths of fresh air. Experience the stillness of nature and learn from it. Going outside for even 15 minutes a day will help your nervous system to rest.
Wear fabrics that promote calmness. Is there a tag that won’t stop itching you? Does a certain top feel a little too scratchy by the end of the day? Do you have a pair of pants that is just a smidge too tight? All of these factors can overwhelm our sense of touch. Take time to determine what fabrics and clothing feel good and eliminate the ones that don’t.
Eliminate processed foods from your diet. You don’t have to get rid of everything, you can start small. Too much processed food can rob you of your enjoyment of natural foods. Try taking a break from one processed item in your diet for a month and see what happens.
If you have some extra time to rest your senses, try these:
Go outside (for longer). Take a long hike. Sit by a body of water all morning. You’ve heard me say it before, and I’ll say it again: the outdoors are good for you in so many ways, including sensory rest. Soak in as much of the restorative power of the outdoors as you can.
Take a long bath. Soaking in a hot or warm bath relaxes your sense of touch. If you haven’t had too much input of smell, you can also try adding some essential oils or bath salts. Certain scents, like lavender or eucalyptus, can be restful for your sense of smell.
Be quiet and be still. This will look a bit different for everyone. Think about what makes you still. Spend an hour or more doing that thing. It will be different for you depending on your personality and your season of life. Maybe sitting with a book and no other noise whatsoever sounds great. Maybe you need to go for a walk. Maybe you find quiet and stillness in practicing yoga. Whatever it is, find that space and spend some time there.
Sensory fatigue can sneak up on you and seem impossible to avoid, but try a few of these suggestions and you will find that sensory rest isn’t difficult to find.
Questions about sensory rest? Post them on the Skipping Stones Facebook page or on Instagram @goskippingstones.