Create Your Sensory Safe Space

 A couple weeks ago I wrote a blog about how humans generally have 8 senses (you can read that blog here). We identified each of the senses and talked about how it is possible to have sensitivities in every single one. For a lot of humans managing these sensory sensitivities can be a challenge at the best of times. These days, the world is so often a sensory nightmare to navigate. So in today’s blog we are going to talk about a way to take some of the sensory pressure off yourself by building a Sensory Safe Space. But before we get to that, let’s talk about why this important for people who have sensory sensitivities.

First of all, the world is harder on our sensory systems than it used to be:

• Wild fluctuations in temperature due to climate change, including more intense summers and winters.

• Noise and smell pollution overwhelming our delicate auditory and olfactory systems, particularly in urban centres.

• The vestibular nightmare that is public transit for those of us prone to motion sickness.

• The strain of blue light from a million screens.

And this list is just a start. Maybe some of you have sensitivities that wouldn’t be a problem if you weren’t living in an urban centre, or if your life didn’t revolve around screens. But moving to the country and swearing off screens is not exactly a practical suggestion. We are where we are, we need to work with what we’ve got.

When Stress Builds Up

Okay so you’re thinking, ‘Great Jav I have sensory sensitivities that are triggered all the time. What’s the big deal?’ Our senses are constantly absorbing immense amounts of information from our environment. For humans with hypersensitivity to these things, this amounts to constant stress on our systems. And constant stress is not our friend. 

It might seem like common sense to say that, but let’s dig into it for a second, you know, FOR SCIENCE. There is a fancy term for the effects of stress that a person carries around all the time. When an organism is placed under stress, either physical and/or psychological, that stress has a physiological effect on that organism. Our bodies have really tangible responses to stress and when stress is chronic those responses build up over time. The build up is called allostatic load. 

In this way, when a person is under a lot of relatively small stressors, they accumulate in terms of effect. Let’s say, hypothetically, you are sensitive to a number of sensory things, but they are irritations that you have learnt you aren’t supposed to make a big deal out of. So you try to ignore them. The thing is, your body is still experiencing the effects of those sensory stressors, building up in the background. Your allostatic load is high, and it is affecting your body.

For neurotypes that include sensory sensitivities (especially autistic neurotypes) the chronic stress of having your sensory needs go unmet over the long term may reach a breaking point. Stress impacts you, body and mind, and stress from your autistic needs being ignored can be traumatic.

Building A Sensory Safe Space

Photo by Solstice Hannan on Unsplash

So what can we do to lower our allostatic load and take some pressure off the system? I would offer that one way to do so is to create a Sensory Safe Space for ourselves. A Sensory Safe Space is a small to medium sized physical location, usually in your home, that is designed to be comforting and safe for your personal sensory needs. Your Sensory Safe Space will look different than mine, because they are each built to our individual specifications. 

Working With The Space You Have

If you are like me you may be in a position where you don’t have a lot of space to spare in your home. That’s okay, your sensory safe space doesn’t have to be a permanent physical spot. You could put your sensory items in a box that you can pull out when and where you need it. For me, I usually set up in my bed because that is where my weighted blanket lives. I’ve been dreaming about getting one of those pop up privacy tents that they make for humans in dorm rooms, I think that would scratch the itch for a contained space that is calibrated to my sensory needs. Then when I am done with it I can pack it back up and store it easily.

Safe Means Predictable

Photo by Nick Windsor on Unsplash

Depending on your living situation you may or may not need to communicate with other people about what you are building. If you do live with other humans it might be worth considering how to go about ensuring your sensory safe space is private. Sudden and unpredictable sensory input can be way more distressing than sensory input that is expected, so part of the safety piece here is lowering the risk of intrusions. This might mean a conversation or two with the people you live with, and it might mean using a room that has a lock on the door, or is exclusive to you, so that you can ensure you aren’t disturbed.

There is nothing so disquieting as someone coming into your sensory safe space, flicking on the big light and saying ‘why are you sitting in the dark?’ Jail for a hundred years.

Dimensions to Consider

Okay, you are ready to start building but you are not sure what to include. Here are a few sensory dimensions to consider. This is not an exhaustive list so you may have other ideas that aren’t covered here. Feel free to adapt to your unique needs!

Lighting: How can you make this space have your ideal lighting conditions? Maybe this is soft lamps, maybe its one of those projectors that makes your room look like space, or maybe its a good old fashioned eye mask to block out any and all light.

Sound: Will your safe space have certain sounds or will it include sound dampening devices like noise cancelling headphones? People can be both sensory seeking and sensory avoiding at different times, it can help to anticipate your sensory needs in different states. I like to have my earplugs with me, along with access to my safe shows for sound.

Touch: What are your touch needs when you are in your sensory safe space? Maybe you’ll want to include nice things to touch like some fidgets, or a weighted blanket is more your speed. This could also include changing into the kinds of clothes that meet your sensory needs.

Smell: What are your feelings about scents in your sensory safe space? Some people like to have things that smell nice to them available in their space. This could be essential oils, or a candle that you like. It is also possible that you will want to be as smell free as it can be, which is also valid. If you want to have the option for either, remember to store your scented items in a way that will keep them from getting their smell on everything.

Food and Drink: Think about whether you want to bring snacks and beverages into your sensory safe space. This could be a place where you enjoy your favourite safe or same foods (food that you know you like and you know will be the same every time). It’s also possible that having crumbs and smells and spill-able liquid in your space is not your ideal.

Bonus: Some humans like the sensation of spinning or swinging, and it is possible to create a space that includes these options. Sensory swings are a very cool thing that exist that can be supportive for the vestibular sensory seeking folx out there. Just remember to hang them correctly and with enough weight bearing capacity. Safety first!

A Place To Take Your Lab Coat Off

Well… that was a longer list than I intended to write. It seems pertinent to mention something here. At Alchemy we have a couple of core ideas that we build all of our experiments on top of. We call them The Alchemist’s Code. You can think of your Sensory Safe Space as a place that you get to take off your lab coat and take a break from experimenting for a while. But while you are in the process of building it, it will still be an experiment for you. So I want to remind you of one of the tenants of the code here; try easier.

When you set out to build your sensory safe space, look to make little changes first. You don’t need to bite off more than you can chew. You don’t need to go out and spend a million dollars or redecorate an entire room at once. Even making a space 5% more sensory friendly to your nervous system can make a statistically significant impact on your wellbeing. You can always make more adjustments later.

What kinds of things would you put in your Sensory Safe Space? Let us know in the comments! And remember to like, share, and subscribe to our mailing list to spread the sensory safe space around.

Keep experimenting out there Alchemists.