You Have 8 Senses - An Info Dump
Every time I am having a conversation with someone and I say “yeah we have 8 senses so like, it makes sense that you would be sensitive to xyz” people are like “WAIT WHAT? 8 SENSES?” Like yeah my human, they lied to you in elementary, we don’t have 5 senses, and it sure as hell isn’t special to have a 6th one. So I thought, what the heck, I’ll write a blog about it. Get ready for a info dump on human sense, and if you read to the end I’ll give you a free pdf for your troubles.
A Sensory Preamble
A ‘sense’ is the capacity to receive sensory information and process it through our brain and body. In general, human beings have 8 senses, each with their own unique purpose, and primary organs that are involved. Some of these senses are closely related to each other, and can have a big influence on the experience of each of them. There are humans who will, for various reasons, not have access to one or more of these 8 senses, and extreme differences in one or more of them can be disabling for humans.
It is possible to be either under sensitive to information from a sense (hypo-sensitive) or over sensitive to information from that sense (hyper-sensitive). Some humans will experience both under and over sensitivity within a single sense depending on context, and that is a hell of a thing let me tell you. Differences in sensory sensitivity are common among humans on the autism spectrum, but it is not a diagnostic requirement so not all humans who are autistic will have sensory differences. Likewise, sensory differences can be an element of other neurotypes.
Okay, preamble over, let’s talk senses.
The 8 Human Senses
The Gustatory Sense
Photo by Tamara Gak
This is your sense of taste. It’s primary organ is your tongue. It is strongly linked to your sense of smell and can also be often influenced by touch (some humans have strong food related texture sensitivities/preferences).
Examples of Hyper Sensitivity - preferring bland or beige foods, finding spicy foods overwhelming, having a strong dislike of certain flavours, preferring a predictable diet.
Examples of Hypo Sensitivity - finding bland food exceedingly boring, having a hard time distinguishing between flavours, finding texture more important than taste.
The Olfactory Sense
This is your sense of smell. The primary organ involved is your nose. Fun story, the part of your brain that processes smell is next door to your memory centre, which is part of the reason smell can have such a powerful connection to distinct memories. For me, ginger snap cookies smell like watching my brother play Super Mario Brothers on the Super Nintendo, specifically the level with a dark blue background and a Yoshi to ride around on.
Photo by Guilherme Stecanella
Examples of Hyper Sensitivity - getting headaches or nausea from strong fragrances, ability to notice or distinguish subtle smells that others might not notice, dislike of strong smelling foods.
Examples of Hypo Sensitivity - not noticing strong smells around you (like composting food or body odor), need a lot of a personal fragrance to smell it, having a hard time distinguishing between different smells.
The Tactile Sense
This is your sense of touch, and the primary organ here is your skin, or more specifically the nerves in your skin. The average human will experience different parts of their skin as having different levels of sensitivity depending on the number of nerve endings that hangout in the area. Neurodivergent systems can have all kinds of differences with this one, for example my scalp is over sensitive in some areas and this made getting my hair done up as a child absolute hell.
Photo by Claudio Schwartz
Examples of Hyper Sensitivity - strong dislike for clothing with a rough texture (like wool), discomfort with hair brushing or tight hair styles, dislike of wet textures.
Examples of Hypo Sensitivity - high pain threshold, seeking tight hugs or deep pressure, not noticing where you got bruises from.
The Auditory Sense
This is your sense of hearing, and the primary organ is your ears. It is possible to have difficulty with this sense without major differences in your ears though. Auditory processing disorder happens when you can receive sensory information through your ears but things go sideways on the journey to your brain.
Photo by Jason Rosewell
Examples of Hyper Sensitivity - needing noise cancelling head phones for comfort, sensitive to busy background noise, easily startled by loud noises.
Examples of Hypo Sensitivity - enjoying loud spaces, needing to turn up the volume on things in order to hear them, having a hard time telling where a sound comes from.
The Visual Sense
Photo by Shayan Ramesht
This is your sense of sight. The primary organ is your eyes. All kinds of things can be different about your eye experiences, from sensitivity to different wavelengths of light, or a preference for busy colours and patterns. Some humans have differences in the number of colours they can distinguish, while others might experience differences in the shape of their eyes that require assistive technology in order to see clearly (….glasses). They’ve got special doctors that are dedicated to this sense alone, that is how complex it is. Here’s looking at you optometrists.
Examples of Hyper Sensitivity - finding lights overly bright, sensitivity to light at night, easier to focus on details rather than overall picture, blue light from screens causing headaches.
Examples of Hypo Sensitivity - difficulty with depth perception, struggling with those ‘find the difference’ puzzles, preferring busy patterns or bright colours.
The Proprioceptive Sense
Photo by Olenka Kotyk
This is your sense of where your body is in space, and how much energy or force is required for movement. You have specialized sense organs for proprioception that exist inside your muscles, tendons, and joints (click here to learn more). I used to accidentally through my pens across the room when I was a teenager, a manifestation of a lack of sensitivity to proprioception, or how much energy I needed to move the pen while writing. To much energy and the pen would go flying.
Examples of Hyper Sensitivity - preferring to sit down or remain grounded, challenges with fine motor skills, a tendency to lean against things, sensitivity to people being in your space.
Examples of Hypo Sensitivity - crashing into furniture or counters, preferring tight clothing or heavy blankets, putting too much energy into motions like throwing a ball.
The Interoceptive Sense
Photo by The New York Public Library
This is your sense of what is going on inside your body. Lots of organs are involved here, as this could be picking up on anything from your emotional state to hunger cues, to your internal thermometer, to whether or not you need to use the bathroom. We are talking heart, lungs, stomach, gut, even bladder. Some consider alexithymia a type of interoception hyposensitivity: a person might not be able to tell what they are feeling if they cannot sense the internal changes that happen when an emotion comes up.
Examples of Hyper Sensitivity - easily overwhelmed by your internal sensations, higher sensitivity to your physiological cues, noticing or being distracted by your heartbeat without intent, can be really uncomfortable and anxiety inducing.
Examples of Hypo Sensitivity - difficulty noticing if you are hungry or thirsty, difficulty sensing or interpreting feelings (alexithymia), not being able to distinguish between kinds of arousal (am I anxious or excited or turned on?)
The Vestibular Sense
This is your sense of balance, or orientation to gravity, and the primary organ involved is the inner ear. This one is vital in being able to hold ourselves upright. It is definitely connected to interoception as hypersensitivity to your vestibular sense can lead to internal experiences of nausea and dizziness.
Photo by Joshua Earle
Examples of Hyper Sensitivity - prone to getting motion sick or sea sick, losing your balance easily, avoiding or disliking swings and ladders, easily getting dizzy from spinning.
Examples of Hypo Sensitivity - enjoying roller coasters or spiny rides, seeking our stimuli that engages the inner ear, liking frequent or constant rocking.
Your Sensory Profile
Aren’t human beings fascinating? You have been one your entire life and you are still learning things about it. Now that we know what our 8 senses are, it’s time to ask yourself: “What is my sensory experience like?” There are lot’s of things to explore here. Do you have higher or lower sensitivities to certain senses? Do you chase after experiences related to certain senses or do you do your best to avoid them? What kinds of things meet your sensory needs, and what kinds of things compromise them?
This is where the Sensory Profile comes into play. This is one way of describing your sensory experience and understanding it more deeply. I’ve made a PDF about it just for you. Join our mailing list for a free copy, and get to know your body’s sensory needs better.
Not sure how to explore this profile, or looking for some extra support? Connect with Javelin for a coaching session on defining your unique sensory needs, and start making moves to meet them today.
Remember!
Your sensory needs are valid.
Your experience of the sensory world might not be the same as the person sitting next to you.
Your efforts to meet your sensory needs can be tailored to your body if you want them to be.
Keep experimenting space cowboys!