Others may be overwhelmed by multiple conversations going on at the same time. Some people may be overwhelmed by loud traffic noises. The symptoms of sensory overload vary from person to person. When your brain is stressed and exhausted, it is less capable of processing multiple sensory stimuli. Stress and fatigue can contribute to sensory processing issues. Crowds provide the brain with vast amounts of tactile and sensory stimulation. For example, they may avoid scratchy fabrics and sandpaper. They also steer clear of textures that are rough. People who are sensitive to textures tend to avoid foods that are slimy, mushy, or rubbery. Many people with autism or ADHD are averse to certain food and tactile textures. An example of this is many people talking. This is especially true for loud sounds that come from multiple sources at the same time. Any loud noise can trigger sensory overload. Particularly if these lights are accompanied by loud music or large crowds of people. Bright, fluorescent, or flashing lights are common triggers for many sensitive people. Some of the most common causes of sensory overload include: Your body begins to panic in a bid to try to protect you from overwhelming stimuli. It will send signals to your body, instructing it to get away from the more overwhelming pieces of sensory input it is receiving.Įssentially, your brain feels trapped by the high volumes of input it’s picking up on. When this happens, your brain becomes overwhelmed. In some people, it feels as though their brains have become ‘stuck.’ Their brain becomes unable to prioritize which pieces of sensory information it should focus on first. Your brain may struggle to interpret all of this information at the same time. Sometimes, there is competing sensory data coming to your brain from your environment. It then instructs your body on how to react to these stimuli. In turn, your brain interprets this information. Your senses relay information from your surrounding environment to your brain. The human brain functions like a highly complex organic computer system. So, what is sensory overload on a neurological level? One of which is the under-diagnosis of women due to male-centric diagnostic criteria.Īdults with certain medical conditions may also be more likely to experience sensory hypersensitivity. There are still many barriers to this process. Yet, they may not be aware of why they are overwhelmed by certain stimuli until they are officially diagnosed by a professional. In certain groups, this prevalence can even range from 80–100%.Īdults with undiagnosed attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism may also be especially prone to sensory overload. Studies show that 1 in every 6 children have sensory processing difficulties. This is because children's brains are still developing and learning how to sort through different kinds of stimulation. However, it is particularly prevalent in children. Or your vision could feel overloaded when exposed to bright fluorescent lights.Īnyone of any age can experience sensory overload from time to time. Thankfully, there are coping strategies for sensory overload.įor example, your sense of hearing may become overwhelmed when exposed to very loud music. This overstimulation of the senses can be overwhelming and exhausting. It’s when your senses take in more information than your brain can process. This overstimulation happens because of external stimuli in your environment. By training the brain to make better and faster connections between the two sides, it is possible to improve the filtering of sensory input, reduce sensitivities and boost attention.Sensory overload is when one or many of your senses become overstimulated. The brain uses these two separate and slightly different signals to, for instance, concentrate on a single sound source or limit our visual awareness. One of the ways the brain filters sensory input is by comparing the signals from the right ear and right field of vision, with those from the left ear and left field of vision. Improve the sensory filtering and processing in the brain and behaviour will change for the better. Much of this behaviour is simply a reaction to the unrelenting assault of information on the brain. This can lead to sensory overload and sensitivities, resulting in a range of difficulties, including sometimes 'autistic-like behaviour'. Some people are not so good at this and either let too much information through or filter the wrong information out. However, we can only pay attention to around 70 to 80 bits per second, so one of the main functions of the brain is to filter, redirect or delete most information that comes in. The brain receives about 11 million bits of information each and every second of our waking day. It is important to understand that we receive huge amounts of information through the senses of vision, hearing, touch, smell, taste and balance.
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