- Excess stimuli: how does it affect us?
- Excess stimuli: how to limit it?
- Limited stimulus excess: what's next?
Excessive stimuli - we do not pay enough attention to it all the time, despite the fact that we approach our well-being, emotions and relationships with increasing awareness. We see the causes of the perceived deterioration of well-being mainly in stress. However, let's remember about the excess of stimuli - check how it affects us!
Contents:
- Excess stimuli: how does it affect us?
- Excess stimuli: how to limit it?
- Limited stimulus excess: what's next?
An excess of stimuli often affects our functioning, although we are not aware of it. We forget that the brain and kilometers of neurons process information from all areas of human functioning every day, and their exposure to stimulation is not without impact. Tension causes not only an excess of emotions resulting from an argument or rush related to the upcoming presentation date, but also an excess of sensory stimuli.
Excess stimuli: how does it affect us?
Factors such as excess light, insufficient light or exposure to improper lighting, noise, thermal discomfort or changes in circadian rhythm are also largely negative effects on our well-being.
Often, after a stressful day, full of impressions exceeding the comfort zone, the remedy we give ourselves is to provide more stimuli, which only worsens our well-being. In this way, instead of regaining balance after a nervous day at work, giving ourselves a little respite, we sit in front of the TV or computer, telling the brain to process successive doses of blue light, advertisements referring to emotions and unfavorable, but eye-catching sounds and lights.
As a society, we have already learned that children are negatively affected by overstimulation. When everything is blinking, is on or is playing too much, the youngest show symptoms of stress. Then, almost involuntarily, we reduce the excess of stimuli for the child's comfort, turn down the radio, cover the windows with sleep or limit the use of the computer. However, we forget that the adult's nervous system also needs a respite, and by not caring for the right stimuli, we expose ourselves to overstimulation.
Therefore, the next time you visit uthe doctor will say: "Please avoid stress", remember that what you can do for yourself is not only dealing with psychological stressors, but also reducing stressors from the environment or related to the circadian rhythm. Their excess or inadequate quality negatively affects the mental state, lowers the mood, hinders the regulation of emotions, reduces the ability to cope with mental stress and lowers immunity.
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Excess stimuli: how to limit it?
1. Try to make minor changes
If you want to reduce the impact of the excess of stimuli on your well-being and he alth, it is worth knowing your limits on the right light, noise and circadian rhythm. Whether a given stimulus is perceived by the body as redundant depends largely on the individual characteristics of a given person.
That is why it is so important to get to know yourself and the environmental conditions that promote well-being. It is also worth observing at what intensity of stimuli the perceived stress has a mobilizing function, and at what its negative effects appear, forcing the body to bear too high costs. Unfortunately, in the case of stimulation, we often fall into some kind of loop: we experience mental stress, so we drown it out with stimuli, and the excess of stimuli generates another stress that requires jamming. In this way, the snowball of tension grows, making it difficult to see what the body really needs to reduce stress.
Many simple changes can be made almost immediately, but what to start with is a conscious decision to break the stimulus loop and look at the comfort limits of your own nervous system. This limit will change over time, but the overall trend towards preferred comfort conditions will be fairly constant. Dealing with excess is largely the ability to listen to yourself, check if I am not exposed to too much stimulation and try to look for a solution.
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Noise
Noise is believed to be loud sounds, but it can also be a soft but irritating sound. Check which sounds make you feel good and which make you nervous or lessconcentrated. Being aware of this is important in the process of getting rid of excess stimuli.
You may find that mute headphones at work or a certain type of music will be helpful to ensure your comfort. See if listening to the radio on the way to work or broadcasts full of intrusive political news and advertisements affects you in any way. Perhaps it will be less exhausting to turn off the car radio or listen to certain types of music. Provide yourself with the sounds of nature. Go to a park or forest for an hour to research. Check how it affects you. Try relaxation techniques, e.g. Shirin Joku.
Light
The human organism, of course, taking into account individual differences, has a relatively constant rhythm, and one of its determinants is light. Well-being is worsened if we do not provide the brain with the right amount of light with certain parameters during the day. In climatic zones with fewer sunny days and sometimes short days, lamps that allow for simulation are helpful.
Before we invest in lighting treatments, check what you can do for yourself in terms of lighting. Try to use natural light in the fall and winter as much as possible and see how it affects your well-being. If possible, place your work desk closer to the window. Use the days off to spend time outdoors in the daylight.
Avoid situations where light is directly in your eyes or there is flickering. Make it easier for your body to tell day from night by reducing excess light in the evening. Avoid exposure to blue light before bedtime, which inhibits melatonin production. Also, limit access to the screens of mobile phones or TV sets. Close the windows when you sleep.
Temperature, pressure, touch
Take care of your thermal comfort, it is worth dressing in accordance with your personal sense of warmth and cold, and not with what others wear. Make sure that the clothes you are wearing do not irritate you, let the material be pleasant to the touch, without irritating labels and free of movement. The whole day of unpleasant stimuli flowing from the body stimulates the body unnecessarily.
Limited stimulus excess: what's next?
The answer to the excess of stimuli is to limit them as much as possible, to adapt the environment in which we operate to our individual needs, but also to ensure adequate regeneration. After introducing smaller and larger changes that increase everyday comfort, it is worth choosing the optimal way to relax.
If anxiety appears after disengagement, it is worth introducing the small methodsteps. Start by changing one stimulus for another in order to gradually come to an individualized way of regeneration. Take a look at what you are lacking in terms of functioning in stressful conditions. For example: working in an office in the so-called open space or at the checkout in a supermarket, despite the abundance of interpersonal interactions, makes it difficult to establish social relationships, so it may turn out that relaxation in the form of a team game (common goal, cooperation, conversation, endorphins related to physical effort) will fill the deficit of friendly social relations .
Working in uncomfortable official clothes or in unpleasant weather conditions can be balanced by cutting off the body from excess stimuli, but also by providing pleasant stimuli, e.g. massage, floating sessions, warm baths.
Think about stimuli you can get rid of and what are worth balancing or replacing them once in a while.
We can not get rid of all negative or redundant stimuli or limit them
In such a situation, our attitude towards them will be the key. By treating difficult conditions as a challenge and not as harm, it will be easier for us to take care of ourselves. Action focused not on negative stimuli, but on strengthening oneself (taking care of proper sleep, regeneration, diet, listening to needs and satisfying them constructively) may be the key to maintaining balance despite the excess of stimuli. Such an attitude will also help to strengthen the sense of agency, which also effectively strengthens the ability to bear stress.
Check what are you really drowning out with these stimuli?
Exposing yourself to overstimulation often aims to cut yourself off your emotions and needs. Distracting attention from what is important, even if unpleasant or even painful, with stimuli from the outside brings apparent relief only for a moment. In the long run, however, it exposes it to great harm. If you find yourself organizing an excess of stimuli that is unbearable, causing a lot of damage in various areas of your life, and making small changes is not having the desired effect, consider meeting a psychologist. It may turn out that exposing yourself to overstimulation has deeper problems that will be easier to deal with with the support of a specialist.