Our body’s systems constantly interact and communicate with each other, the majority of which happens outside of our conscious awareness. When we feel anxious, our body responds with physical symptoms like a racing heart or butterflies in our stomach. But sometimes, the opposite happens: We notice the physical sensations first and only then realize that we’re anxious. Our bodies always signal information through emotions, bodily sensations, and thoughts.

This means that when we’re overstimulated, we feel it throughout our entire bodies.

With the current state of the world, many of us may be feeling overwhelmed and overstimulated. What happens when we start consuming too much news and give ourselves too little time away from the screen? You may be feeling scared, overwhelmed, anxious, stressed, worried, and even angry by everything you’re seeing on the news. In this post, you’ll get a therapist’s five tips on coping with and managing feelings over overwhelm and overstimulation. You’ll learn about limit setting, protecting your peace, the importance of community, grounding and coping skills, and when to ask for help.

Many of us overlook how we speak to ourselves. Our self-talk can foster compassion or make us feel inadequate. What if you replaced self-criticism with compassion?

Understimulation is more than just feeling bored, it can quickly turn into frustration, anger, irritation, even physical discomfort for those experiencing it.