Quick anxiety tip: Use earplugs for sensory overload

6/15/2022

If you get sensory overload when you're anxious, try keeping a pair of earplugs on you!

Bassett hound on a pedestal with its ears held out wide

When I'm very anxious and overwhelmed, I get sensory overload, especially auditory hypersensitivity. Suddenly the electronic noises I have tuned out all day get really loud and I feel uncomfortable in my body, like I want to claw my way out. Of course this does nothing to alleviate the sense of overwhelm, it makes it ten times worse!

If it happened during work hours I would put on my headphones just to try and dampen the noises of lawn mowers and the roomba running downstairs, but it only does so much. Recently I got special earplugs for concerts, that will protect your ears from the noise while still letting you have conversations (trying to be a responsible adult and hopeful for a fun summer). And I realized that it's the perfect solution!

Tan dog in banana sweater straining to hear

Photo by Karsten Winegeart

While my headphones do little for my computer's hum, the earplugs almost completely drown them out. It is a nice, quiet little world to live in, and it's well worth a try if you are oversensitive to sound either as an anxiety trigger or an anxiety response. Any earplugs will help, but I do like that these Alpine ones are washable and reusable. :)

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