I was speaking to a client this week about how they could manage their pent up energy while being stuck at home. This person mentioned the feeling the need to “climb the walls” when it dawned on me that there is a whole school of developed resources that Occupational Therapists use with their kids who have trouble regulating their energy -

It’s called a Sensory Diet

A sensory diet involves the 5 sense we are taught in kindergarten - visual, auditory, gustatory, olfactory and tactile. But we also have the sense systems of proprioception, vestibular and interception. These are less recognized but no less important senses. Proprioception is that sense of our joints and muscle pressure, coordination and movement. Vestibular has to do with the sense of our head in space. Interoception is our sense of internal body processes and wellness.

The sensory diet attempts to offer activities that correlate with engaging or regulating all 8 systems. Each requires different types of input and stimulation. And the goal is to help a person (often a child) to feel “just right” in their body, which then allows them to pay attention, focus and interact with their world in an adaptive manner.

Stuck at home

For our purposes of being stuck at home and needing to manage stress it seems pulling activities from sensory diet could provide opportunities to be curious, explore and feel better despite being at home. For a more complete listing of possible activities look here to a blog post by hol family on how to create sensory diets for kids.

8 Systems for Reducing Stress

An example would be under Proprioception - think using BIG MUSCLES to push, pull, carry, climb, jump. Can you run up and down the stairs in your house? Can you carry stones in your yard to create a new garden spot? Can you ride a bike or run up a hill in your neighborhood? Wall squats, lunges, and other body weight activities qualify. All of these would be considered sensory diet skills targeting the proprioceptive system. For this client I even suggested literally climbing the walls inside your house. Find a narrow enough hallway and put one hand and foot on each opposing wall. Exert pressure and try climbing.

What if you’re feeling overwhelmed and want to calm yourself down? There is always the tried and true Essential Oils and taking a break to smell scents that can be calming or alerting. Lemon, lavender, clove, frankincense, patchouli, etc. If you don’t have essential oils, you can use spices, soaps, candles, flowers, herbs, baking meals, even your pets fur to create a sensory experience. These stimulate the Olfactory system.

Breathing can be considered part of the Interoception system. Counselors love talking about Breathing. But sometimes we need to make it fun. Occupational Therapists have an activity that uses a straw and your kitchen sink and a small amount of dishwashing bubbles. The object is to put about 2 or 3 inches of water and a normal amount of dish soap in the sink, then use a straw or flexible tubing to blow bubbles enough to create a bubble mountain that rises past the top of the sink.

Doing blindfolded taste tests can stimulate the Gustatory system. Set up a series of varying tastes; salty, sweet, spicy, sour, bitter and umami and see if your housemates can guess which is which. Or try to identify ingredients in a new dish by using sight, smell and taste to guess what that dish contains can be an activity that helps give you focus and expend some energy in a healthy way. This can even tap into mindful eating, slowing down enough to notice the complexity of tastes. See if you don’t enjoy your food more?

The Auditory system can benefit from playlists you curate on your devices. It can be fun to come up with a song that matches your sense of jangliness. Listen and move your body, shaking or dancing as that song plays. The next song in your playlist could be something slightly less bouncy or chaotic. Sing, hum or move along to the music. The third or fourth song in your playlist can be calmer still. Perhaps in a key and tempo that engages your senses and matches a human heartbeat at rest. This can be a calming activity to help move pent up energy out of your system.

The Visual system benefits from recognizing color, pattern, shape, size in objects around you. Maybe creating a scavenger hunt of finding objects of a certain color or shape within your house. Maybe you can even collect glassware that is in a certain shape to create a new tableau to look at on your dining room table or credenza.

The Tactile system loves to notice different textures, temperatures and pressures. Did you ever wonder why weighted blankets are a great tool for anxiety? They help the tactile system recognize there is pressure being exerted on the body, which can be very grounding. Likewise, touch through hugs, massage, tickles, or tackles can be soothing to a persons system. This is especially helpful if you are sheltering in place with others.

The Vestibular system does well with things like yoga inversions, spinning, swinging, hammocks, hanging upside down anything that moves your head away from its normal position above your heart. Practice cat/cow or headstands where your head goes lower than your heart. . If your yard has it rock or swing on a hammock or swing. Spin your body around by dancing or doing windmills. All of these help your body wake up and bring awareness to balance.

Mixing up your furniture and arranging in more pleasing patterns of flow through rooms can be an activity that hits multiple sensory systems proprioception, visual, auditory, vestibular. . The possibilities are limitless.

It’s just easy to get stuck doing what we always do. Maybe it’s time to mix things up. By honoring the needs of our organism as represented by our different sensory systems, we can help our bodies reduce stress, reduce inflammation, improve immune function and create a little fun while we’re at it.

Need help finding things you personally can do? Contact me and we can set up a time to create your own plan of action. And isn’t it interesting that our ability to manage stress is connected to our own bodies, and the awareness we use in utilizing our bodies. It truly does all connect.