Sensory deprivation

Are you feeling sensory deprived; missing the social circles, friends, restaurant dinners or the co-workers in the office everyday. Are you living by yourself locked in a small bachelor flat or townhouse and feeling as if the walls are moving closer to each other everyday. Isolation and depression lurking at your door, but those are not the guests you want to invite.

or

Are you feeling sensory overloaded while being in lockdown with your kids, wife or husband and pets and everyone needs a little piece of you and you have to do work as well? You are not allowed to go for a walk, a run or go to an office space where you can lock yourself away from the hassle and bustle of everyday’s chaos. You feel anxious, irritated and frustrated.

or

Are you feeling both of the above?

Let me explain to you why you are feeling the way you do:

During everyday life, our brain takes in stimuli from our environment. These stimuli can be conscious through the 5 sensory systems such as your eyes, ears, skin, mouth and nose. But ….. there are also 2 hidden senses such as the vestibular system (based in your inner ear and the muscles of your inner ear) and the muscle-joint system (proprioceptive system). These are the two unconscious systems feeding information to your brain about where you head is moving (vestibular system) in space such as when you swing, roll, dance, laying down, sitting up or doing a handstand (upside down). The muscle system (proprioceptive system) tells you how your body is reacting to the movement your vestibular system is signaling to your brain. And guess what, you have an 8th sense called interoception. This system feeds information to your brain about what is happening inside your body. It might include but is not limited to hunger, thirst, pain, temperature, aches, tummy aches, energy levels, sleep patterns or insomnia and also the pact of your thoughts on the autonomic nervous system of your body by signaling stress hormones or relaxation.

So when we are isolated, we are missing the sensory stimuli we use to get when going out with friends, drink a cup of coffee in the busy Mug and Bean, window shopping in the mall, having friends over for dinner, jogging or gym or going for a walk and swim on the beach.

When we are confined in our house or flat with family and pets, we might feel like we would like to escape as the sensory stimuli are too much to deal with.

You might also experience a combination of both.

These scenarios are normal responses of the autonomic nervous system, but is intensified by the external sensory systems ; the visual system (looking at the same environment or people or messiness), auditory system (noise overload, no sounds in the house, children crying or fighting constantly or the absence of people noises), tactile system (skin system feeling overloaded by the closed environment, the people in your space, the emotional needs of children and partner, the lack of own space, the confinement of space, the longing for touch, hugs social contact , constant cleaning and washing), the smell system (the lack of the smell of nature or an early morning walk, the smell of people or shops, the irritating smell of garbage heaping up outside, the constant smell indoors; the taste system (comfort eating, snacks, not enough variety in your cooking menu, , drinking alcohol more than usual ) and then last but not least, the interoception system (feeling lonely, emotional, depressed, anxious, lazy, constantly hungry, feel the need for something, but do not know what……)

So how do we keep our sensory systems in balance so that our brain remains balanced and positive when we feel overloaded or deprived of sensory stimuli??????

The answer is in the two other hidden senses which in normal situations keeps our sensory systems and autonomic nervous systems healthy. So, in these unusual situations it is just so much more important to activate the vestibular system (movement of the head in space) and the proprioceptive system (muscle-joint receptors) through more intense movement and muscle work

Lets look at a few examples

• Yoga

• Dance on music

• Swim and dive

• Swing on the children’s swing

• Exercises where your head is upright, upside down, side ways

When you do only exercises such as stretches, the nervous system stay in a calm-alert state of mind for 2 hours, but when you combine different head position exercises with muscle exercises, you can keep your nervous system calm-alert for at least 8 hours.

Start today as prevention is better and quicker than treatment.

Should you need help with your individual needs and a plan for you as an individual, contact me for more information