Understanding overstimulation: What it is, why it happens, and how to get relief

What Is Overstimulation?

Overstimulation occurs when your brain receives more input than it can effectively process. The term frequently comes up in conversation, but overstimulation is neither clinically diagnosed nor clearly defined.

When people say they “feel overstimulated,” they usually mean that their environment (sights, sounds, smells) and/or the demands on their attention (kids, work, social media, texts) are too much for them to handle at once, says Kate Hanselman, a board-certified psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner at Thriveworks. Other terms used to describe this state of overwhelm include sensory overload, information overload, cognitive overload, and communication overload.

Your Brain on Overstimulation

When you’re overstimulated, communication between the part of your brain responsible for planning and problem-solving (the prefrontal cortex) and your fear and anxiety center (the amygdala) breaks down.

“Normally, your amygdala talks to your prefrontal cortex to say, ‘there’s a problem,’” Hanselman explains. In a relaxed state, your prefrontal cortex responds to say that it’s checking it out (“there’s no danger here, we’re good!”). But if your amygdala starts going off, saying “Hey, there is danger here. I know this!”, then your prefrontal cortex doesn’t get to talk. Your brain’s communication pathways don’t work the same: The amygdala doesn’t get confirmation that you’re safe, and it starts running the show.

When this happens, it triggers the fight-or-flight response, a physiological reaction that prepares your body to either fight against a threat or flee from it by releasing stress hormones like adrenaline, which increases heart rate, blood pressure, and energy levels.

“Our body’s system is very old, so it operates on a saber-toothed tiger level of fear instead of an I-won’t-meet-a-deadline level of fear,” Hanselman says. In other words, everyday stressors aren’t usually life-or-death situations, but overstimulation can make them feel as if they are.

Signs of Overstimulation

When you’re overstimulated, you may experience some combination of physical, cognitive, and behavioral symptoms, including: 

Physical Symptoms of Overstimulation

• Faster heart rate or breathing rate
• Increased blood pressure
• Restlessness or feeling like you just can’t relax
• Trouble sleeping or having a hard time  waking up
• Changes in appetite or digestion

Cognitive Symptoms of Overstimulation

• Mental exhaustion
• Trouble concentrating, staying focused, or completing tasks
• Easily distracted or introspective
• Trouble expressing yourself clearly or solving problems
• Skewed sense of time, feeling like it’s either speeding up or slowing down
• Narrowed focus, or even tunnel vision 

Behavioral Symptoms of Overstimulation

• Mood changes; feeling more aggressive, irritable, sad, fearful, or anxious
• Feeling on edge or jumpy
• An urge to avoid whatever is triggering you

How Is Overstimulation Different From Normal Stress or Anxiety?

There’s a lot of overlap in symptoms of overstimulation and stress or anxiety. That’s because the same parts of the brain and physiological processes are at play, Hanselman says. However, “unlike normal stress or anxiety, which tend to be more generalized and not from a specific source, overstimulation is a very high form of stress that can typically be traced to one or more identifiable sources,” says Alexandra Cromer, a licensed professional counselor at Thriveworks. “It also typically resolves when you’re able to avoid or escape the stimuli.”

Everyone’s thresholds and triggers are different, but it could be something as mundane as a pileup of texts at the same time your toddler is having a public meltdown when you’re running late. Which brings us to…

What Causes Overstimulation?

A variety of factors can individually or collectively contribute to overstimulation, with the effects varying from person to person based on their unique sensitivities and circumstances. Some of the most common triggers include:

• Sensory overload: Excessive stimulation of any of your senses, such as bright lights, loud noises, strong smells, or crowded spaces.
• Information overload: A barrage of breaking news notifications, the endless scroll of social media, or your overflowing email inbox could all contribute to this, Cromer says.
• Chronic stress: Prolonged exposure to stressors can lower your threshold for sensory overload. 
• Lack of sleep: It’s no secret you don’t function at your best after a bad night of sleep, and that includes your ability to effectively manage sensory input.
• Emotional situations: Highly charged emotional environments or interactions can lead to overstimulation.
• Multitasking: Attempting to process multiple streams of information simultaneously can overwhelm the brain, causing cognitive overload.

Are Some People More Likely to Experience Overstimulation?

Yes, in addition to the common triggers above, certain neurological, psychological, and physiological factors make some people more likely to experience overstimulation, including:

• Highly sensitive people (HSP): This term popularized by psychologist Elaine Aron, Ph.D. describes people whose brains have an inherent predisposition to be hypersensitive to sensory stimuli. So HSPs are, by definition, prone to overstimulation. 
• Anxiety disorders: Both anxiety and overstimulation impair your brain’s ability to reason with your fear and anxiety center, meaning it’s harder to convince yourself the flickering fluorescent lights or too loud music aren’t a threat. 
• Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): People with ADHD can have trouble filtering out sensory and cognitive information that they don’t need to pay attention to. All that unnecessary input can lead to overstimulation. 
• Autism spectrum disorder (ASD): People with ASD have alterations in the sensory regions of their brains that can make them more—or sometimes less—sensitive to sensory input like bright lights, loud noises, physical touch, or extreme temperatures.
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): PTSD is linked to changes in the structure of brain regions that make it hard for people to distinguish between threatening and non-threatening stimuli. This can make people more or less reactive to something like a loud noise or a pat on the arm than it warrants. 

How Overstimulation Affects Overall Well-Being

Remember the fight-or-flight response that overstimulation sets off? It’s an amazing, necessary adaptation for threats that last minutes to hours, but if your everyday life leaves you in a chronic state of fight-or-flight, it can impact your overall well-being in various ways.

Research links prolonged activation of the stress response to:

• Impaired memory, thinking, and learning
• Suppressed immune system
• Digestive issues
• Increase risk of heart disease
• Onset of various mental health issues, including depression, bipolar disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder 

In short, “if we don’t properly address overstimulation, it can snowball into more extreme distress or even cause long-lasting impairments to our daily life,” Cromer says. The good news is that it can be managed, both in the short term and the long term.

How to Manage Overstimulation

Overstimulation can come from so many different sources—often all at once—so the key to managing it is setting healthy boundaries around whatever triggers you. But first, you have to know what those triggers are.

“Get quiet with yourself and ask, ‘What is the problem?’” Hanselman suggests. If you can pinpoint your triggers, try to limit them as much as possible.

“Get quiet with yourself and ask ‘what is the problem’?” Hanselman suggests. If you can pinpoint your triggers, try to limit them as much as possible. 

Additionally, here are four more strategies to help bring you peace:

1. Focus on one task at a time (aka mono-tasking).

“The expectation that our attention will be divided is omnipresent now,” Hanselman says. “It really is an act of resistance to say, ‘Nope, I’m doing one thing.’”

Because multitasking contributes to cognitive overload, focusing on one thing at a time can make you feel better. Help yourself by using your devices’ focus settings (even for just one hour) or by using an app like Freedom to prevent habitual, mindless social media scrolling.

2. Embrace being unavailable at times.

Setting healthy boundaries around communication is easier said than done, but it’s crucial. “It’s ingrained in us that if we get an email or text, we have to respond right away,” Hanselman says. However, it’s perfectly reasonable to not address messages within minutes or even hours.

Schedule time on your calendar for when you’ll answer emails, chats, or text messages—and stick to it. If the thought of keeping people waiting makes you uncomfortable, set up an auto-response to let them know when you’ll reply, setting realistic expectations.

If this isn’t realistic given your company’s culture, consider other aspects of your daily life that you can control, Cromer says. For example, can you silence social media, news, and other personal notifications while you’re working? Alternatively, you might mute all work-related notifications after hours. Science supports this approach: A 2025 study in PNAS Nexus found that disabling mobile internet access for two weeks improved people’s attention, mental health, and subjective well-being. (Participants still had internet access on desktop computers.)

3. Make alone time non-negotiable.

This is especially challenging for parents. If you can’t get alone time for a few hours each week (ideal scenario), short stints are still worthwhile. A 2023 research review found that regularly carving out just five minutes for slow, deep, mindful breathing can counteract the body’s stress response. Make it even easier by downloading an app like Breathwrk or Breathing Zone for guidance. 

4. Write down what you’re worried about.

Remember that when you’re overstimulated, your prefrontal cortex shuts down, making it hard to think straight. The act of writing can bring it back online, Hanselman says. She suggests putting pen to paper when you feel overwhelmed. For example, if you can’t figure out how you’ll meet a work deadline, grab a piece of paper and map it out step by step. Then, focus on one step at a time.

When to Seek Professional Help

If feeling overstimulated is disrupting your daily life (e.g., your relationships or work are suffering, or you can’t seem to enjoy the things you used to), consider seeking help from a mental health professional, Cromer says. Everyone responds to stress differently, so think about your personal baseline and whether you’ve felt “off” for an extended period.

“When we’re overwhelmed, it’s nearly impossible to figure it out for ourselves because our system is in fight-or-flight mode,” Hanselman says. Working with a mental health professional who understands your situation can help you find personalized tools to cope and feel more balanced.