What’s inside this article: An in depth look at sensory overload. Including what sensory overload means, what it looks like and feels like, causes , prevention, and how to provide relief to kids experiencing overstimulation.
Is there a child in your life who seems to become anxious, panicked, or overwhelmed very easily? Do they seem especially sensitive to sounds, smells, and textures?
If you said “yes” to those questions, this heightened sensitivity might be due to sensory overload, a condition where the brain becomes overwhelmed by sensory input.
In this article, we’ll explore this topic in detail, explaining its meaning, symptoms, and strategies for supporting someone experiencing it.
What Is Sensory Overload?
Sensory overload happens when the brain is bombarded with more sensory information (from sight, smell, taste, touch, and sound) than it can handle.
This excess information causes feelings of anxiety, overwhelm, and even meltdowns.
While everyone experiences sensory overload occasionally, certain people, especially those who are neurodivergent, are more easily triggered and experience overstimulation more frequently.
It may even interfere with their quality of life and make it hard (or sometimes impossible) for them to participate in certain activities.
What Causes of Sensory Overload?
Sensory overload occurs when one or more of the body’s senses experience over-stimulation from the environment. The central nervous system becomes intensely activated and overwhelmed by the amount of sensory data flooding in. This can disrupt the brain’s ability to process information efficiently.
Several factors can lead to sensory overload, and the triggers vary widely from person to person because some people are naturally more sensitive to stimuli than others.
Understanding what triggers your child’s sensory overload can help you find strategies to manage or minimize its impact.
Here are some key causes:
- Intense Sensory Input: This can include loud noises, bright lights, or strong smells. This is more likely to happen in places with a lot of stimuli, such as crowded public places, busy streets, or events with lots of people and noise. But remember, some people are naturally more sensitive to sensory input than others.
- Sudden Change in Environment: Moving from a relatively calm environment to a chaotic one can trigger sensory overload. Sometimes the brain struggles to adjust to this kind of sudden shift.
- Cognitive and Emotional Stress: Stress heightens our sensitivity to sensory input. When someone is anxious or stressed, typically tolerable levels of noise, light, or other sensory inputs can become overwhelming.
- Fatigue: When you’re tired, your brain’s ability to process sensory information decreases, making it easier to become overwhelmed by environments that would be manageable when well-rested.
- Neurodiversity: People with Autism, ADHD, or sensory processing disorder are more susceptible to sensory overload. Their sensory systems might be more sensitive or less tolerant to certain types of sensory inputs.
The Sensory Spectrum
The term “sensory spectrum” describes the array of sensory differences that exist from person to person. How we experience and interpret various stimuli is an individualized experience.
Additionally, we all have sensory preferences. These are things we enjoy and avoid. This is called a sensory bias. It’s the reason why people have different preferences for foods, music, activities, etc.
Sensory bias is normal and only poses a problem when it severely restricts or limits productivity or chronically interferes with enjoyment in life.
If you look at the diagram above, representing the sensory spectrum, you can see there is a “normal” or typical range. Most people fall somewhere within this range when describing how they experience sensory input.
However, some people are hypersensitive to stimuli, making them more likely to experience sensory overload. In contrast, some people are hyposensitive. These individuals may miss important cues from their bodies, like not realizing they are hungry until they are starving.
Conditions Related to Sensory Overload
Anyone can feel sensory overload. However, people with the following conditions may be more sensitive to stimuli and more likely to experience sensory overload symptoms:
- Autism
- ADHD
- Sensory Processing Disorder
- PTSD (or children who had adverse childhood experiences – ACE’s)
- Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
- Down Syndrome
- Tourette’s
- Other developmental disorders
Experiencing Sensory Overload
Sensory overload is a challenging and overwhelming experience with a wide range of physical and emotional responses.
It is essential for caregivers and educators to understand sensory processing differences and recognize the signs of sensory overload in children. This knowledge can help significantly reduce meltdowns and help build an environment where children flourish.
What Does Sensory Overload Feel Like?
Sensory overload can cause a variety of physical and emotional symptoms and can vary from person to person.
Some commonly reported symptoms of sensory overload include:
- Extreme irritability or agitation
- Intense overwhelm
- An urge to cover your ears, eyes, or run away from a situation or place
- Feelings of anxiety or fear
- Wanting everything around you to just “pause”
- Disoriented
- An inability to ignore sensory inputs (loud sounds, strong smells, etc.)
- Unable to focus
- Overheating or dizziness
These feelings can range from mild to severe and worsen the longer the person is exposed the overwhelming stimuli.
What Does Sensory Overload Look Like?
If a parent or teacher doesn’t know what to look for, it might be hard for them to tell when a child is experiencing sensory overload.
Sometimes, it seems like kids are intentionally acting out, avoiding school work, or being defiant. With sensory overload or a sensory meltdown, this is not the case.
If your child is experiencing sensory overload, you may notice some of the following behaviors:
- Restlessness or difficulty sitting still
- Trying to leave certain locations or situations (for example, the classroom during group activities)
- Covering their face or closing their eyes
- Covering their ears
- Crying unexpectedly
- Outbursts or sudden intense frustration
- Aggression or agitation
- Not communicating what’s wrong
- Not following instructions
- Meltdowns
Children often can’t communicate directly that they are feeling overwhelmed or experiencing sensory overload, so it’s important to notice their behavior and try to reflect on what’s happening on the inside.
There’s always a reason for misbehavior, even when we can’t see it.
Desensitization
In some cases, the brain may respond to overwhelming sensory input by shutting down some sensory processing to protect itself from the overload.
This can lead to numbness or a sense of detachment from one’s surroundings. This can be challenging to recognize when it’s occurring in a child because their behavior isn’t disruptive the way it is during a meltdown. But there are signs to watch for:
- Withdrawal: Suddenly withdrawing from conversations or social interactions, seeming disconnected or disinterested.
- Flat Affect: Facial expressions become less animated or entirely neutral, and their voice may lack its usual inflections.
- Reduced Responsiveness: You might notice delayed responses in conversation or a lack of response to external stimuli, like not reacting to sounds or touches that would normally get their attention.
- Seeming Fatigued or Zoned Out: They may look tired, have heavy eyelids, or seem like they are “zoning out” or staring into space.
If you notice these signs of desensitization, especially in a loud class room or another stimulating environment, it can help to offer a quiet break to see if they start acting like their normal selves again.
Managing and Preventing Sensory Overload
Recognizing and responding to sensory overload in children is crucial. You can use various strategies to provide kids with immediate relief during an episode of sensory overload.
There are always ways to prevent or reduce the occurrence of overstimulation.
Relieving Sensory Overload
When a child is experiencing sensory overload, you can help relieve their overstimulation by finding a way to dim or remove the sensory input that’s overwhelming them.
For example:
- Noise-reducing headphones
- Dimming the lights
- Taking a break in a quiet, non-stimulating environment
- Playing quiet nature sounds
- Offering a cold drink or snack, addressing unmet needs that are increasing sensitivity to stimuli
- Temporarily reducing expectations
- Simplifying a task
It’s also important to make children feel supported and validate their feelings when they are overstimulated. Emotion coaching is a great communication tool for this.
Scolding a child for their behavior or dismissing their experience by telling them to “get over it” is not helpful and may lead to more challenging behavior.
Develop an exit strategy:
If possible, work collaboratively with your child on an exit strategy they can use to remove themselves from overwhelming situations ahead of time.
For example, if you’re having guests over at your house, make it clear ahead of time that they can go to their room and take a break from all the guests who are talking loudly around them without asking permission or excusing themselves from the room first.
Self-regulation strategies:
Self-regulation strategies help calm down our nervous system, and help kids get back to their base level after being overstimulated.
Try practicing and guiding your child with breathing exercises or mindfulness exercises. Remember, you need to teach these calm-down skills when your child is calm, not in the heat of the moment.
Preventing Overstimulation
Knowing how to help stop sensory overload is important. But being able to prevent it from happening in the first place is even better.
Some of the most effective strategies for preventing sensory overload include:
- Identify your child’s triggers and plan ahead to avoid them or reduce their intensity
- Have a safe, calming space your child can use when overwhelmed.
- Have a sensory room where they can explore sensory input safely or using calming sensory tools.
- Use tools to minimize sensory input, such as noise-reducing headphones, or fluorescent light covers.
You can read more detailed and specific prevention tips here.
Occupational Therapy
Consider consulting with an occupational therapist if you’re observing recurring signs of overstimulation in your child.
An occupational therapist can offer invaluable expertise for children frequently dealing with sensory overload. They can evaluate a child’s unique sensory requirements and design a tailored sensory diet, a specialized set of activities to accommodate their sensory needs and alleviate sensory processing challenges.
The more you know about sensory overload, the easier it is to support your child and help them to feel safe.
The following articles may help you prevent, or stop, sensory meltdowns or overload.