The Highly Sensitive Person or the HSP Sensory Nervous System (Part 1 of 2)

An ultra-sensitive nervous system susceptible to overarousal from stimuli, either too much or too little (bored), including physical pain internally and over processing cognitively (analyzing and trying to solve a problem or wrestling with an emotional issue or a fear). This is not the same as an anxiety disorder; an HSP's greatest "anxiety" would be fear of becoming overaroused.

The Sensory / Nervous System

1- Somatic sensation within the nervous system

Somatic sensation consists of the various sensory receptors that trigger the experiences labeled as touch or pressure, the sensation of posture, the sensation of movement, the sensation of temperature (warm or cold), and the sensation of pain (including itch and tickle).

2- Visual sensation within the nervous system

Visual perception is one of the senses, consisting of the ability to detect light and interpret (see) it as the perception known as sight or naked eye vision. Vision has a specific sensory system. Types of visual perception include color vision, black and white vision, motion perception, brightness and contrast, depth perception, and gestalt perception (the perception of wholes out of incomplete elements - also relates to clutter).

3- Olfaction (the sense of smell) within the nervous system

Olfaction, the sense of smell, is the detection of chemicals dissolved in air (or, by animals that breathe water, in water). In vertebrates smells are sensed by the olfactory epithelium located in the nose and processed by the olfactory system.

4- Taste sensation within the nervous system

Taste is the direct detection of chemical composition, usually through contact with chemoreceptor cells. Taste is very similar to olfaction (the sense of smell), in which the chemical composition of an organism's ambient medium is detected by chemoreceptors.

5- Sound (auditory) sensation within the nervous system

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Hearing is the ability to detect sound based on the pressure of air (sound pressure level) impacting the ears, most notably, and also on the rest of the body (like feeling the air move while standing in front of a big bass speaker -- sound can also be a somatic sensation).

6- Cognitive (thinking) sensation within the nervous system

Working the prefrontal cortex harder or faster than it was designed to do by analyzing (wrestling with a problem), self talking, fantasizing (especially revenge), reframing old memories, loss, grief, fear, etc. all create within and add sensation to the sensory/ nervous system.

In Need of a Sensory System Impact Index

Using a "Sensory System Impact Index" would be analogous to counting the calories of each individual food item on a plate of food and then adding them up together to get a total caloric count. We would add up all the sensory impact units, both external stimuli and internal stimuli, to get a total sensory impact count. This would give us a more realistic idea of the total activity within the nervous system in response to work, home, grocery store, library, busy freeway driving, taking care of children, school, bullies -- emotional arousal, thinking -- analyzing and self talk arousal, etc.

With a tool such as this, we should be able to better determine how close a person could be to total sensory/ nervous system fatigue and shut down (transmarginal inhibition -- see Ivan Pavlov). Note: The 1949 movie Twelve O'Clock High, with Gregory Peck as Brigadier General Frank Savage, portrays a good example of transmarginal inhibition.

For this index, we would need a sensory impact unit (impact sensation within the nervous system) that can be applied to all five senses (plus the cognitive originating sensations) above, so that we can get a total count. The higher the number, the more active the sensory/ nervous system would be.

Clarity is Optimal

Clarity is optimal, especially for HSPs. HSPs pickup and process many subtleties in their environment that non-HSPs do not. Therefore clarity to process these subtleties becomes important in keeping the sensory / nervous system from working harder and becoming overaroused. The human primate sensory / nervous system was designed to receive and process clear, understandable (distinguishable), and unhampered sensory information. When it receives other than this optimal information in, it needs to work harder, causing it to become overaroused.

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Information that interferes with clarity (the picking up of subtleties) is considered by the HSP sensory / nervous system as "noise" in the system. Examples of noisy information:

• Intense or glaring light which reduces the clarity of things in our field of vision, thereby reducing the picking up and processing of subtleties.
• Although sunglasses can reduce intense or glaring light, they can also reduce visual clarity, (because we are looking through glass), and therefore reduce the picking up and processing of subtleties.
• A dusty or tinted-glass car windshield, which reduces the picking up and processing of subtleties.
• Biologically speaking, our sensory / nervous system was designed to optimally receive and process visual information based on walking speed. Being artificially in motion as the driver of a ground-based vehicle moving faster than normal human walking speed (2.5 mph), causes things in our field of vision to become less distinguishable (less clear), which reduces the picking up and processing of subtleties.
• Any object whipping or zipping past us, which is less distinguishable than if it were moving slower so we could observe (experience) and process all the subtleties of that object, causes it in our field of vision to become less distinguishable (less clear), which reduces the picking up and processing of its subtleties.
• Motionless unorganized clutter, overwhelming enough to cause this matrix of clutter to become undistinguishable, (such as a pile of paperwork, a garage packed full of unorganized junk, or an overcrowded
• poorly kept city block), can become sensory noise when it's in our field of vision; because we need space and distance between objects in order to recognize and process all their subtleties.
• Strong smelling perfumes in a department store or most household air fresheners, which infiltrate and odor mask the air (or some other person), reduce the picking up and processing of other subtleties in the air or of that other person.
• Very visually strong colors (verses subtle colors such as earth tones).
• Foods that contain lots of hard-to-digest insoluble fiber or strong spices that can cause gas and bloating, reduce (hamper with) the picking up and processing of other subtleties in our body, because of the pain caused by gas and bloating.
• Self talk and analyzing can tie up the prefrontal cortex and become cognitive noise, which can reduce (hamper with) the picking up and processing of other subtleties in our body, because we end up ignoring or discounting those other subtleties.
• Listening to something too softly to be understood, listening to music with words that are undistinguishable, or "walls of undistinguishable sound" such as crowd sound (people all talking at once), reduces the picking up and processing of subtleties within each situation.
• Clothing (especially rough fabrics), tight shoes, tight belts, hats, and tight collar shirts can cause noise on the surface of the epidermis (our skin). Our skin is the largest sensory collection organ of our entire sensory / nervous system and also helps to facilitate waste removal from the body. In addition, there is a misconception that waste is removed from the body by way of our urine. This is untrue. Urine helps to facilitate a balance of our blood chemistry and is sterile when it leaves the body. Waste is removed at the surface of the epidermis and through bowel movements. When we cover up the epidermis, we hinder the evaporation of waste. This surface waste can buildup (if we let it) and also become noise within our sensory / nervous system.
• Diversity or variety or change can add noise to the sensory / nervous system. When new environmental elements are added too quickly to an environment, the sensory / nervous system is forced to work harder to adjust to the new elements. This can be food, people (such as adding an additional culture to an existing culture), moving from one culture or environment to another, adding additional television channels, adding additional food items to choose from on a restaurant menu, adding additional products to store that a person shops at regularly, etc.

So we can have "noisy" light, "noisy" visuals, "noisy" motion, "noisy" smells, "noisy" food, "noisy" thinking, "noisy" sound, "noisy" touch to our skin, and "noisy" diversity. Short of becoming naked hunters and gathers in the woods, located in warm regions on the planet again, there will be a lot of sensory / nervous system "noise" that HSPs encounter in today's version of society.

Overall we could say that if something is not clearly recognizable and distinguishable in our environment, it becomes noise within our sensory / nervous system and can add to becoming overaroused. "Noisy" information can also be called an unclear, an undistinguishable, or a "mixed" message.

A "mixed" message is someone shaking their head, "Yes," while saying the word, "No." This example is an unclear message that can cause overarousal for HSPs. We sense one communication by way of body language (visual) and hear a different communication by way of conversation (audio), which can cause our sensory / nervous system to work harder and can cause it to become overaroused. Approximately 97% of our interpersonal communications are visual and only about 3% are via words. HSPs are best equipped to trust visual subtleties (the behaviors) in interpersonal communications and throw out the words they hear, when it comes to trying to find clarity within "mixed" messages.

Too Much and Too Little

In addition to clarity, that range which falls between too much incoming information and to too little incoming information is also considered optimal.

Too much light can create overarousal (causing objects to become indistinguishable), whereas too little light can also create overarousal (causing objects to become indistinguishable). The range in between is optimal for HSPs. Other examples might be:

• A large "empty" open space such as an indoor arena can create overarousal (too little going on), whereas a large crowded space can also create overarousal (too much going on). Many HSPs find that one on one, with one person at a time, is optimal.
• Many HSPs like to "perch" in a safe space slightly above the landscape or a crowd. Being below the landscape, (such as a basement, subway, or cave), can create overarousal, whereas being on a rooftop or bridge can also create overarousal.
• Being too close to a person while in conversation can create overarousal, whereas being too far from a person (such as talking on the phone) can also create overarousal (not enough information due to a lack of visual information). Some HSPs may not make eye to eye contact with another person in conversation because it is too close to the other person; just hearing their voice is close enough or optimal. They are not being rude -- they are regulating the information coming into their sensory / nervous system. During a lecture, some HSPS may close their eyes for most of the presentation and use the audio sensory information only. Again, they are not being rude -- they are regulating the information coming into their sensory / nervous system.
• Some HSPs like to stand near another person they sense as safe and/or interesting without making eye contact with them and as long as their path to escape is not hindered. This is optimal for them. Whereas restraining an HSP or blocking their path to escape can cause overarousal.

Overall we can say that if something is too much or if something is too little it can become overarousal within our sensory / nervous system. Our hunter and gatherer ancestors had much more freedom to regulate the information coming into their sensory / nervous system than we have in today's version of society. Freedom is very noticeable and cherished by HSPs and they will go to great lengths to find it. They are very sensitive to control of any kind or "being pushed" and need to be allowed to practice what is optimal for them compared with non-HSPs. In fact HSPs can easily become sick or even disabled (refer to Ivan Pavlov -- transmarginal
inhibition) when the freedom to regulate the information coming into their sensory / nervous system is not available to them or is withheld from them.

There is no such thing as becoming desensitized to incoming stimuli and, "No" it's not just a matter of getting use to it. The "meaning" of the stimuli could be cognitively repressed, however, all stimuli impacts the sensory / nervous system. We are designed that way; it's normal to be that way. We can cognitively practice ignoring, not giving meaning to (thinking about), stimuli that impacts the sensory / nervous system; however, since the cognitive system has no direct control over the sensory / nervous system, it is physically impossible to reduce the impact of stimuli on the sensory / nervous system by thinking about it less. As an example, a
martial arts expert can refuse to cognitively recognize pain as a distraction during combat, however, they cannot refuse the sensory information that pain produces from entering and impacting the sensory / nervous system. This was also proven in studies of child who view violent movies or play violent video games. They may not think about it (give it cognitive recognition or consider it to be real), but the stimuli still impacts their sensory / nervous system (which includes the Limbic system). And, "No," their normal and healthy sensory / nervous system does not have the ability become desensitized or calloused to it.

Although an HSP might believe they are spending a relaxing evening at home watching television to unwind, they could actually be "cognitively unaware" that they are receiving massive amounts of (non-relaxing) information by way their sensory / nervous system. The dishwasher, the furnace motor, a low rumble of traffic outside from a busy road or freeway nearby (both audio and somatic sensation -- vibrations), smells or dusts in the house, wind blowing outside, neighborhood kids playing down the street, light from lamps in the house or shinning through a window, and even boredom or frustration from the lack of desired television programming, could be, in addition to the motion on the screen and the sound of the television, subtly adding up to create a significantly high volume of incoming sensory / nervous system information (both external and internal -- from subtle pain, subtle irritation, subtle gastro intestinal system distress, subtle emotional distress or activity, or subtle cognitive processes). The same principle is in place with regard to biofeedback. Although we can cognitively train the body to relax, biofeedback has little or no effect on Irritable Bowel Syndrome (3) due to the way the brain and gut are wired within the sensory / nervous system. Sensory information still impacts the system regardless of how we think about it or cognitively try and manipulate it (4).

Continue Reading Part 2 of This Article

Author: Clint Clark
Website: http://www.hsperson.com/