7 Tips to Manage Stress for Highly Sensitive People
- Do you feel noise, light, and smell can easily overwhelm you?
- You seem to feel stressed easily over things you have to do within a short period of time?
- Does the world seem like to affect you more than others?
- You tend to have a rich inner world, or you think a lot and feel a lot?
- You tend to feel your emotions more deeply and intensely than others?
- Are you told by others “you are just too sensitive”?
If you answer yes to these questions, you may be a highly sensitive person (HSP). What is a highly sensitive person? A highly sensitive person refers to those who tend to have an increased or deeper central nervous system sensitivity to physical, emotional, or social stimuli. In the first place, it is important to notice that the world is full of upsetting events and situations. HSPs are different than others in the way they are affected by these stressors. Many HSP have low tolerance for stress and feel overwhelmed way more than the people around them.
You may have been googling, “highly sensitive person test,” before stumbling upon this blog. If you relate to this article so far and want to learn more, keep reading!
Signs of a Highly Sensitive Person
Have you been called “too sensitive” before? You may have not only been offended by this but also confused by what the person meant. What does it mean to be sensitive? Let’s use and example.
For example, Tara is a HSP. This means that she is more in tune with and affected by her surroundings. When someone is upset around her, Tara picks up on this easily and may even feel upset in the light of this. She dislikes any situation that is overwhelming in any way. As a matter of fact, Tara tries to avoid tv shows or movies that contain too much excitement for her liking. She searched “highly sensitive person test” and related to the questions.
In addition to this scenario, here are some other signs of being a HSP. Thanks to Dr. Elaine Aron’s work, researchers believe that a HSP will:
- Do anything they can to avoid stressful or complicated situations
- Have high levels of empathy
- These people feel the emotions of others easily. They feel uncomforted when this happens
- Deeply affected by daily occurrences and experiences
- Be more prone to depression and health issues
- Usually like being alone and feel safe when doing so
- Feel emotions in an intense way
- Get overstimulated by inner thoughts or outside factors
What Causes Someone to be Highly Sensitive?
Coupled with the signs of being an HSP comes the curiosity about its cause. Researchers Acevedo et al. believe that people are highly sensitive for a reason. Their research goes along with the idea that sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) is the trait that influences HPS. Acevedo et al. believe that this trait causes people to have “enhanced awareness and behavioral readiness.” This causes a HSP to have increased sensitivity to their surroundings. They also believe that being an HSP can relate to the different parts of your brain and their varyings activations.
Risk Factors for a Highly Sensitive Person
Depression
According to research, Highly Sensitive People are more prone to poor mental health and elevated psychological distress. Depression may be common in people who are highly sensitive. One major reason HSP can have depression are non-stop stimulation from environmental, internal bodily, and interpersonal stimuli. These ideas are presented in Social Psychologist Elaine Aron’s research.
First, Environmental factors:
How the outside world affects someone who is a HSP
- A toxic work environment
- Big and intimidating crowds
- Uncomfortable social situations
Second, Internal bodily/Inner Life factors:
How inner thoughts and fears affect someone who is a HSP
- HSPs are very in tune with their body
- This can cause them to be neurotic over their health and worry about something happening to them
- HSPs have thoughts that are very critical over anxious existing in their head all day
Third, Interpersonal factors
How the relationship with other people affects someone who is HSP
- HSPs are like sponges. They absorb the feelings of the people around them. Other people’s stress becomes their own now.
Trauma
Furthermore, research has shown that people who have trauma can have increased levels of empathy. Empathy is a crucial part of being a HSP.
Moreover, trauma is an emotional response to very stressful events. Trauma can lead to shattered sense of security, nightmares, flashbacks, intense emotions, anxiety, and many other mental health issues. These issues can last for weeks, months, or even years.
People who are HSP might be affected more by traumatic events than other people. Someone who is HSP feels each experience in their life with intensity. Correspondingly, if they experience a traumatic event it may affect them deeper.
Positive Things about a Highly Sensitive Person
As much as being an HSP can cause difficulty in someone’s life, it is equally important to bring up the positive parts of it.
Empathy Makes the World Go Round
Empathy is the ability to understand other people. This capacity allows someone to take a walk in another person’s shoes for the day. If we all focused more on this ability to understand people, the world would be a better place. The world is full of horrible things, not to mention prejudice and hate crimes, that highlight the lack of empathy in our world. We need more empathy, ALWAYS!
Imagination and Creativity
Research holds that highly sensitive people are more imaginative and creative. Their ability to feel emotions deeply can produce amazing artistic results. The best art, movies, television scenes, or poems speak rawly and powerfully to the human experience. What better person to indulge in these ideas than an HSP?
How to Manage Stress when you are a Highly Sensitive Person
First, Accept yourself for who you are
Your trait being a highly sensitive person is totally normal. It is not any disorder. In fact, about 15-20% of the people are highly sensitive. Research has found that it is better when you observe carefully before acting or entering a new situation. In this case, being highly sensitive is a total advantage and makes you special! Therefore, it is important to accept yourself and your feelings. There is no reason to blame yourself or feel shame about having high sensitivity.
Second, Take Care of Yourself
Being a HSP feels like a full-time job. Likewise, it feels like you are constantly “on” every second of the day. Comparatively to off-time from work, HSP need downtime. Highly sensitive person test themselves and are constantly under pressure. Try to implement self-care practices into each day. Remember, these practices don’t need to be huge productions, they can be small and simple.
Some ideas are:
- Taking a soothing bath
- Wearing comfortable clothes
- Napping when you feel overwhelmed
- Eating right and drinking enough water
- Watching shows and movies that calm you down and make you happy
- Spending time with people who care
Third, Identify Triggers and Minimize Overstimulation
It is totally understandable that you try to avoid overstimulation. Very often, what is natural for others to do, may be too much for you. For instance, a packed schedule without any break, a long commute of 2 hours, or a restaurant that is too crowded or too loud, you will likely have to wear out sooner. With this understanding of yourself and your needs, it is important to stay away from such situations. Meanwhile, if you have to set boundaries and say “No” to people to reduce such triggers, it is ok to do so too.
There will be times in life where you cannot control your circumstances. With this in mind, it is still important to identify your triggers to reduce overstimulation. In order to minimize your exposure, you must first ask yourself what situations affect or overstimulate you.
Consider these questions:
- When do I feel most triggered and stressed?
- Where am I?
- Who am I with?
- Why do I feel this way?
For more, look up “highly sensitive person test.” These questions will help you understand yourself and your sensitivity level better. If there is someone in your life that stresses you out each time you see them or a show that gives you anxiety to watch, try your best to detach from these factors.
As mentioned before, there will be situations that you cannot control or easily walk away from. Try to accept the things you can control and focus on making those changes.
Fourth, Create your Safe Space or Relaxing Zone
In addition to the last point, it is also important to set up a safe space for yourself. Let’s face it, if you are an HSP you may need more time to yourself. HSPs can reach burnout quickly & process information deeply. Find a place where you can recharge and relax. Knowing all of these reasons, you want to find some time in your home or your bedroom to recharge.
In order to reduce misunderstanding from your loved ones, you may want to explain the situation to them. For example, share with them that you need some alone time for about half an hour after work. If are feeling overwhelmed and need to be alone, let your loved ones know. Take a nap to rest, listen to some soothing music, meditate, or do whatever makes you feel safe and relaxed. Such compensation helps with the balance of your energy.
Fifth, Practice Mindfulness Meditation
Mindfulness practices are great for people who experience high-levels of stress. These activities allow the person to find peace in the present moment. Mindfulness practices could include breathing techniques, mindful walking, mindful showering, mindful eating, mindful cooking, or any meditation that you prefer.
When you practice mindfulness meditation, you actually learn to step back and observe your thoughts, feelings, and even physical reactions. By doing so, you are able to separate all these from your “self”. You are an objective observer instead of deeply involving yourself in the emotions and thoughts. That is, mindfulness meditation has a lot of advantages:
- Calm your body more quickly from stressors.
- Detach yourself from things emotionally more easily.
- Stay grounded and rational.
- Build resilience to stress.
Sixth, Lean on Support
In times where being an HSP, gets to be too much, lean on your loved ones. If some people in your life find it hard to understand your situation, look for support groups to join. Statistically, there are 15 to 20 percent of the population who are HSPs. Specifically, this means that there are people out in the world who can relate to all of your experiences as a HSP.
Seventh, Seek Therapy
Therapy can help someone a highly sensitive person navigate the world better. A highly sensitive person test can help you in some ways but receiving actual therapeutic help is key. A therapist can help you manage stress and build self-esteem. Since depression and trauma are relevant to HSPs, receiving therapy to deal with these underlying issues might help. The therapists at Mind Connections want to help you! Call now for a free 15-minute phone consultation.
敏感型人，压力管理，焦虑，抑郁，正念冥想
Content Creator, Victoria Gallo; Reviewed by Dr. June Cao
If highly sensitive people could get stressed more easily, what is so good about us being in this world?
I am a highly sensitive person. yes, I can get stressed more easily. Thanks for sharing all the info