Sensory modulation is a term used for the way our brain responds to stimulation of our senses, often through deliberate actions to lead to improved wellbeing. And the best thing is – anyone and everyone can use sensory modulation.
What is sensory modulation?
Sensory Modulation is using our body’s senses to change our emotional state. We use it automatically:
- When someone is stressed, we make them a cup of tea and sit down for a chat
- When we’re angry or agitated, so go for a walk or run to release stress
The senses
Every second of the day, our senses collect around 11 million pieces of information. Most of that information is visual and it goes from our environment to our brains for processing.
Now we can only actually process about 50 pieces of information each second, so our brain filters and compress what we take in. With all that filtering going on, there’s a half-second (0.5 second) delay from the time our senses pick up on something and when it registers or we notice it.
Most of what our senses pick up, happens without our conscious selves even realising. It’s amazing how our environment can affect our day right? We are so closely connected to the world, people, and things around us.
How does information affect us?
As we take in everything from the world around us, our brains are watching out for signs of change and possible threats.
For example, if we hear a loud bang, the sound travels from our ears to our brain. The amygdala, a part of the brain, signals danger and automatically starts the Fight, Flight, or Freeze response.
Chemical messages – or hormones – such as adrenaline are sent through your body to prepare us to respond to danger. Adrenaline makes your breathing shallower and faster to bring in more oxygen. It also raises our heart rate so the muscles get more oxygen-rich blood, preparing you to fight or run away.
Signs of the Fight, Flight, or Freeze response can include jelly legs, sweating, and more and it all happens in less than a twentieth of a second.
The Fight, Flight or Freeze Response
Processing information from our senses
So, the amygdala triggers this response in the body. In the meantime, your hippocampus and cerebral cortex continues to process a sound. You recognise it as a door slamming. Then you remember it’s a windy day and you didn’t leave the door open. Once you understand what the noise was and that it’s not a threat, your body starts to calm down.
Cerebral Cortex
The cerebral cortex helps us process thoughts, emotions, movement, and language. It also brings together information from all our senses so we can make sense of it.
Hippocampus
The hippocampus helps form new memories and is also associated with learning and emotion
But calm doesn’t happen straight away because, if you think back to caveman times, if a wild animal prowled around, you had to stay alert in case it came back.
This is why it can take 20-60 minutes after a threat ends, for your body to return to a calm state.
You can learn more about this with the hand model explained here: https://www.psychalive.org/minding-the-brain-by-daniel-siegel-m-d-2
Why Fight, Flight or Freeze?
Because evolution is slow, the amygdala still can’t tell real threats from imagined ones. It behaves the same way it would have in caveman times and we had to stay alert so it sometimes triggers the Fight, Flight, or Freeze response even when it’s not needed.
The amygdala is in the primitive part of our brain and it can’t tell the difference between real and perceived threat. It hasn’t changed much over time and always reacts the same way. And… although it’s purpose is to try and keep you safe, sometimes – it overreacts.
The amygdala always responds the same way too, whether you almost have a car accident or are having an anxiety attack. That means modern day stress, like when we worry about fitting in or saying something embarrassing, can trigger it. Hearing sad news or scrolling social media? You guessed it, our amygdala can react as if we’re in real danger too.
So this is how you might feel stressed even if you can’t connect it to a specific event.
Knowing this can help us to remember that the amygdala can set off a stress response, even if we’re actually safe. It’s reassuring to understand. It’s not that you’re ‘failing to cope’, it’s that your brain is doing its job a little too well.
Sensory modulation as a calming strategy
When you notice your fight-flight-or-freeze response has been activated, the goal is to calm your body down and take control. Remind yourself that you’re feeling an automatic response, not necessarily the best or most logical one. Give some of these strategies a go.
Deep breaths:
Remember how adrenaline changes your breathing to be shallow and rapid? If this oxygen rich blood was not used to fight or run away, people may hyperventilate or have a panic attack and think they are going to faint.
Once you’re aware that your amygdala has triggered the FFF response incorrectly and you aren’t in physical danger, focus on breathing. A few deep belly breaths can help calm us down.
It’s important to practise deep breathing on a daily basis create muscle memory. Our brain has difficulty thinking clearly when stressed so practising how to breathe, when you are feeling calm will mean you don’t have to think as hard when under pressure.
A simple breathing exercise works because the longer exhales directly signal safety to the nervous system which helps switch off the fight-flight-freeze response.
Hands on belly breathing is especially helpful for people who feel disconnected from their body.
Deep breathing exercises to practise:
A simple breath exercise
Sit or stand in a comfortable position
Breathe in slowly through your nose for a count of 4
Pause briefly
Breathe out gently through your mouth for a count of 6
Keep your breathing slow and relaxed, especially on the out-breath.
Repeat for 1–3 minutes, or until your body begins to settle.Breathe in through your nose and into belly, breathe out with mouth.
A GROunding breath exercise
Place one hand on your chest and one hand on your belly.
Breathe in through your nose, noticing your belly gently rise.
Breathe out through your mouth, letting your belly soften and fall.
If it helps, imagine your breath moving low and slow, like filling and emptying a balloon.
Continue for a few minutes, at a pace that feels comfortable
Weighted blankets and pressure:
People often find the pressure of animals, weighted blankets, lap pads, vests, wrapping up in a blanket or having a massage, grounding.
Movement:
We can also speed up the path to calm using our proprioceptive senses. That involves movement using our larger muscle groups, ligaments and tendons. It can be as simple as going for a walk, running, dancing or even going to the gym.
These types of movement help break down the stress hormones which flood our body at the start of the FFF response.
Mindfulness and yoga:
Mindfulness helps us develop the skill of being present and an impartial observer of your body. Therefore we can learn to recognise stress symptoms and when the amygdala has incorrectly triggered the FFF response.
Practising yoga helps because it is centred on breathing and increases body awareness.
Sense based calming strategies
Calming strategies tend to be soft, slow, rhythmic, familiar, and predictable.
Different senses work for different people, so it can help to experiment and notice what feels most settling for you.
Some ideas to try, grouped by sense, include:
- Sight
This might include soft or neutral colours, dim or natural lighting, looking at trees or the sky, watching water, or something quietly repetitive like fish swimming in an aquarium. - Smell
Smell is closely linked to memory and emotion. Familiar, comforting scents such as a favourite soap, essential oil, or the smell of baking or fresh laundry, can be grounding if they have positive associations for you. - Taste
Slow, soothing tastes can be calming. This might include sucking on a sweet, eating soft fruit, warm porridge, or slowly sipping a warm drink. The focus here is on gentle, comforting flavours rather than strong or sharp ones. - Hearing
Soft, predictable sounds can help settle the body and some find familiar voices or background noise reassuring. This could be quiet music, gentle singing or humming, the sound of waves, rainfall, or a guided meditation. Some people find familiar voices or background noise comforting. - Touch
Deep pressure and warmth are often calming. Think: hugs, wrapping up in a blanket, using a weighted lap pad or blanket, massage, applying hand lotion, squeezing a stress ball, or holding something smooth like a stone. - Vestibular (movement and balance)
Slow, repetitive movement can be regulating. This might look like walking, rocking in a chair, gently swinging, or being a passenger in a car. These activities help the body feel steady and supported. - Proprioceptive (muscle and joint input)
Using the larger muscle groups can help your body release tension. Activities like walking, yoga, stretching, light weight-lifting, push-ups, or other ‘heavy work’ can be very grounding.
You don’t need to use all of these – even one or two reliable strategies can make a real difference.
Features of alerting strategies
Alerting strategies arent designed to calm the body. They increase sensation and can help bring someone back into the present moment.
Alerting input is pronounced, quick-paced, non-rhythmic, complex or unexpected. Alerting sensations can be unpleasant and annoying at times, especially if we’re nervous or upset though they can be useful for grounding – when disassociating, having flashbacks, or losing touch with reality. Strong sensory input helps bring us back to the present moment.
Examples might be: Strong fragrances, sour lollies, chilli, crunching popcorn, raw vegies or ice, bright colours or lighting, video games, offbeat or loud music, tickling, something prickly, walking on grass, a cold room, snapping a rubber band on your wrist, running, swinging.
When to use Sensory Modulation
Here are two ways you could use Sensory Modulation:
To calm stress
As distress is starting to build, try and calm down. Once an incident is over, sensory modulation can help a person to calm down faster but this may not be useful at the height of their distress!
Daily sensory diet
We’re not talking about a ‘sensory diet’ of food here but instead, including supportive sensory activities regularly in your day or week.
Use Sensory Modulation on a daily basis, as part of your ‘sensory diet’, to maximise self-care and help with overall levels of wellbeing and stress management. A sensory diet can help map out helpful strategies for the week increasing your overall level of well-being, ie.
Saturday: Walk on the beach, coffee with a friend
Sunday: Long, afternoon bubble bath
Monday: Gym
Tuesday: Yoga
Wednesday: Spin class
Thursday: Dance class
Friday: Make dinner for Friends
Daily: Read a book each bedtime
Aim to use these activities intentionally to improve our state of wellbeing and the best thing is – anyone and everyone can use sensory modulation. It’s about figuring out what helps you – and then giving yourself permission to use it.
Sensory modulation is offered by OTs to tangata whaiora accessing Equip Services.
To mark World Occupational Therapy Day (27 October), our kaimahi Karen and Jennifer both Occupational Therapists, hosted a sensory modulation information session for staff at HQ.
The theme for this year’s World OT Day was “Occupational Therapy in Action”, and the session highlighted sensory modulation as an evidence-based therapeutic approach offered by Equip’s OT team. It was a fantastic opportunity to raise awareness of how sensory modulation supports tangata whaiora in managing distress and enhancing wellbeing.
This article is derived from their presentation. For more on sensory modulation as an evidence-based practice, check out https://www.tepou.co.nz/initiatives/least-restrictive-practice-2/sensory-modulation