What are our Sensory Systems?

Can you answer yes to any of these questions?

• Do you find the artificial lights extremely bright and prefer to sit in the dark or with natural light?
• Does noise bother you more than those around you and cause you to feel overwhelmed?
• Do you shop in familiar, smaller shops to avoid crowds?

Each person experiences the world differently. Often we underestimate the impact that our sensory system plays in our daily lives. How we interpret sights, smells, sounds, touch and tastes impacts our ability to function optimally.

It is important to understand how your body understands and reacts to the different sensory information around you. If you are sensitive to any sense - it may cause you to be overwhelmed when experiencing a situation where that sense is present.

For example, this could mean if you are sensitive to light  that your anxiety can be heightened when walking into a very brightly lit room. Or if you are sensitive to loud noise, shopping in a big shopping mall can become overwhelming with all the different sounds and noise you experience.

By understanding your “Sensory Profile” it allows you to implement simple but effective changes to help you manage your sensory environment and eliminate unnecessary anxiety due to the sensory information around you.

Occupational Therapy can assist in identifying how you perceive the environment around you and assisting you in finding ways to help manage this.