This article was written by The Zillennial Zine’s senior fall editorial intern Dalal Daher. Find her on Instagram at @dalalllldaher. If you would like to share an article with The Zillennial, send us an email at thezillennialzine@gmail.com.
In art, negative space (white space) is what draws visual interest to your piece. In music, the silence in between beats is what creates rhythm and cadence. In life, you need breaks and pauses to enjoy the busy times, and when you’re overstimulated, it can be hard to figure out how exactly to take a break. So how do we structure pauses that maintain work-life balance, especially when you’re really busy and overstimulated?
What is overstimulation?
Overstimulation is when your body is exposed to much sensory input at once. Our brains experience sensory overload when overwhelmed with things like too many bright lights or loud noises. While it may seem easy to notice when you’re feeling this way- you might be picturing the sensory overload of a loud concert- overstimulation can affect us in subliminal and everyday ways. When we try to do too many things at once, like pull an all-nighter for school, then attend classes and socialize with our peers, or spend hours looking at our screens, our brains end up feeling overstimulated by the sheer amount of data being thrown at it. Feeling repeatedly overstimulated can increase the amount of stress you cope with on an everyday basis.
How do I know if I’m overstimulated?
While anyone can feel overstimulated, this feeling is even more common if you have conditions like anxiety, depression, autism, Tourette’s syndrome, and PTSD. If you’re feeling symptoms of being burned out, stressed, and overloaded by what you have to do in your day, think about if these common overstimulation contributors may be piling onto your mental load: chronic stress, loud noises, bright lights, minimal sleep, emotional stress, and environmental changes.
Feeling unfocused and irritable recently? It could be a sign of overstimulation. Overstimulation can manifest itself in other ways, including insomnia, feelings of fear, muscle tension, and an overall sensation of discomfort. Essentially, it’s your brain breaking down at an overwhelming combination of physical data (temperature, texture, bright lights), emotional stress, discomfort, and life stimuli.
How do I know if I’m overstimulated?
Increased access to technology, from smartphones to remote jobs, have amplified the likelihood of feeling overstimulated in everyday life. It’s possible that you’ve had moments of overstimulation without even being aware of it, because Western society glorifies a lifestyle of constant motion that doesn’t always allot time for breaks. Just writing about some of the stressful factors in most young people’s lives, from the global stress of the pandemic and our society’s recovery, to individual challenges and changes, not to mention the higher loneliness rates Gen Z faces, makes me start to feel overstimulated…
So how do we deal with these feelings? First of all, try talking to a trusted friend, family member, or therapist about it, and try to figure out what is causing your overstimulation. Note down any overstimulation symptoms, indicators, and triggers. If you’re in an overwhelming setting such as a large concert, try to stay near the exit and ensure you have some room to calm down.
It’s OK to need a break
When dealing with chronic overstimulation, however, an important element is to ensure you’re taking enough breaks. Practice some mindfulness, and still your body as you focus on calming your mind. When thinking about everything dragging your mind down, or running from to-do list to to-do list, take five minutes to just sit and relax. If you’ve been studying for your final exam for three days straight, unplug and take a 10-minute walk outside- those ten minutes aren’t going to define your grade! When in the middle of feeling overstimulated, these breaks may seem like a waste of necessary time. But it’s important to view breaks and pauses not as a hindrance to your routine, but a part of life and your overall happiness.
When life gets busy it feels like the easy choice to sacrifice breaks or lengthy sleep as part of the journey to achieve your goals and stay on track. However, this can just lead to chronic overstimulation, which will make you more stressed, unfocused, and unhappy in the long run. In a society that values productivity, we tend to view prioritizing pauses and rest as a sign of laziness. Yet these breaks should have the same importance on your agenda as everything else. There’s no music without beats of silence, and no way to create rhythm in your life without respecting your need to take a breath and just relax when you’re overwhelmed.
Have you ever been overstimulated? How do you deal with it? Let us know in the comments below!
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