Understimulation: Overstimulation’s often forgotten sibling. A therapist’s insights and tips
“Understimulation is more than just boredom, it can quickly turn into frustration, anger, irritation, even physical discomfort for those experiencing it. ”
I’ve written quite a bit before about overstimulation on my blog. It’s a topic and an experience that I feel very strongly about, both professionally and personally, that I feel is overlooked by most people. Since then, I’ve come to realize how little people are talking about the flipside of overstimulation — it’s just as bad little sibling understimulation.
If you’ve read my blog before, you’re likely to know already what overstimulation is. But, if you’re finding yourself here for the first time, I’ll go ahead and give a quick explanation of what it is. Overstimulation is an emotional (and, at times, physical) response to an overwhelming world around you. It is an automatic response outside of the control of the person who experiences overstimulation and often results in the person becoming easily irritable or isolating themselves from others. In a blog post I’ve written in the past about overstimulation, I mentioned that it’s incredibly common in what we call a Highly Sensitive Person, or HSP, but can be seen in almost every person’s life, including those who have ADHD and autism. [I’ve specifically mentioned HSP, ADHD and autism in this post as these groups are the ones that are usually associated with overstimulation and understimulation; however, you don’t have to be a part of either group to experience these symptoms.]
There is a flip side to overstimulation, though, or a different side to the same coin, and that’s understimulation. While some may think it would be nice to feel understimulated, just like with anything, being too understimulated can have serious negative effects on your well-being.
What is understimulation anyway?
Just like with every topic, we have to first look at what understimulation is. Just like with many mental health terminology, understimulation can be overused or misused, which can make things confusing. So, for this blog post, we will be viewing understimulation as what happens when your environment isn’t interesting or intriguing enough, when your sensory needs aren’t being met, or when you feel a lack of sensory, cognitive, or social stimulation. A boring environment, lack of social interactions, or lack of novelty in routine can all cause understimulation. Basically, understimulation is the exact opposite of overstimulation (I guess that’s pretty obvious, huh?). This is more than just boredom, although that is a common feeling when understimulated, it can quickly turn into frustration, anger, irritation, even physical discomfort for those experiencing it.
These feelings can arise during various environments and situations — at home, in the office, or even at a doctor’s office. The environment you’re in will, of course, play a role in how stimulated you are, and, unfortunately, some environments are more boring than others. While this can feel almost like a negative thing [for example, the office may be an understimulating environment but you have to go], it can actually be a useful tool to predict possible moments of understimulation and come up with an action plan to cope with it.
How can you tell the difference between boredom and understimulation?
The definition I just gave for understimulation feels really similar to boredom, right? I feel the same way, which makes it difficult to know the difference between being bored and being understimulated, and to be able to tell the difference is crucial for how to cope with those feelings. Because, yes, understimulation almost always means you’re bored but being bored doesn’t always mean you’re understimulated. So, how can you tell the difference?
When we’re talking about understimulation, we’re talking about the broad feeling of your sensory needs being unmet, whereas boredom is more of a feeling resulting from dullness or lack of interest. This can present differently for each person, which means you will have to take your experiences into account, but there some symptoms that are most common, which we can use to further understand the difference between boredom and understimulation.
Understimulation often involves feelings of restlessness, boredom, irritability, lack of motivation, difficulties with concentration, fatigue, speaking stimulation (often in potentially dangerous ways), and even symptoms of anxiety and/or depression. While boredom is often a feeling that people have while understimulated and often reflects the dissatisfaction or lack of interest in whatever you are doing at that time. Both are related experiences, but we can see understimulation as what happens when the boredom goes unchecked.
How can you cope with understimulation?
While it’s important to understand what you are feeling, it’s just as important to me to be sure you are able to manage, cope, and overcome the negative feelings you are experiencing, including understimulation. So, if you’re feeling understimulated (or even just bored) try out one (or more) of the following:
Explore new hobbies or interests
Sometimes the things that we usually enjoy lose their novelty and excitement, sometimes we decide that we don’t have time for hobbies (okay, maybe that one is self-directed), and sometimes we just forget that having hobbies and interests is a way to care for ourselves. But for whatever reason you may have, part of your understimulation may be due to the lack of hobbies or interests that bring you a spark of joy. Try out something that you’ve always been interested in or curious about, challenge yourself to try something new. Finding something that sparks joy for you can easily bring you from total boredom to feeling calm and excited.
Seek out novelty
When we are doing the same thing over and over and over again, it’s no surprise that we start feeling understimulated and bored. By introducing novelty and changes in your routine, your brain won’t have the opportunity to get bored of what you’re doing. For example, change the time of day you go out for walks, try a new coffee place, cook something you’ve never made before. Adding a bit of spice into our everyday routine can help prevent feelings of understimulation.
Use you social support system and connect with others
I know, I know. This feels like such an obvious solution to a problem that feels huge when you’re going through it. But, as I’ve said before, sometimes therapists are just common sense machines, reminding you of things you already know but maybe forgot about. Oftentimes, when at the point of understimulation, we don’t even think about how other people can help us, and sometimes we feel too irritable to reach out to other people, fully convinced they’ll make the situation worse. But we cannot forget that humans are social animals, we need one another and when you’re understimulated, you need people. Having social interactions counts as stimulation and can take you from feeling nothing to feeling something (which is definitely a step in the right direction!).
Create challenges for yourself
Okay, another personal recommendation coming in because I love creating little mini challenges for myself. There’s something about pushing yourself to try to do something you never thought you’d be able to do that tickles a part of your brain (the part of the brain that is craving stimulation, btw). Creating challenges for yourself pushes you outside of your comfort zone and forces your attention onto something other than yourself and your boredom. These challenges can be physical, creative, professional, doesn’t really matter but I would recommend making these challenges realistic to reach, as that will make you excited and help you actually do the challenge.
Create a safe, stimulating, and fun environment
Just as I mentioned during my overstimulation post, when you’re feeling understimulated it’s important to have a safe space you can go to that offers you just the right stimulation. Decorate your space with things that inspire you — artwork, plants, books, whatever it is that brings you energy and inspiration! Through decorating your living and/or working space with things that bring you inspiration, you may feel more energized.
Take breaks
There are times when boredom and understimulation is a sign that it’s time to walk away from what it is you’re doing. It’s better to walk away and take a break from the activity than to push yourself to continue going. When we push ourselves too far, we may end up hating or even resenting the activity, even if it is something that you usually love. For example, maybe you usually love sitting in your garden with a book, enjoying the sun, but for whatever reason, you’re suddenly feeling unsatisfied, bored, and annoyed. If you get up and give yourself a break, you’re more likely to enjoy that activity again, where if you try to push yourself to ‘just enjoy it’, you may push yourself away from an activity that normally sparks joy. It’s okay to take breaks — go for a walk, practice mindfulness.
Understimulation is the often forgotten flip-side of overstimulation, but causes just as much discomfort. There is no shame in experiencing understimulation (even when doing ‘fun’ things), but that doesn’t make the experiences any better. Luckily, though, there are ways to cope and better understand this experience to have more fun more often!
