Sensitivity And Your Health

2 min read

Last week I wrote about sensory processing sensitivity, the temperament trait carried by an estimated 20 to 30 percent of people. This week, I'm touching on how it can show up in seemingly unrelated symptoms.

What The Research Links To This Trait

The following lists show how people who tend to be more sensitive are more likely to experience these symptoms. In most cases these are the result of overstimulation, lack of support, and stressful demands rather than something biological.

Physical:

Reflux, abdominal pain, indigestion, diarrhea, and constipation, holding steady even after accounting for demographics
Long-running pain nobody has been able to explain. In one study of adolescents with chronic pain, close to half scored as highly sensitive, well above the general population rate
Fatigue, headaches, low back pain, and palpitations
Reactions to chemicals, scents, and noise that others in the room do not register
Running out of steam in the late afternoon and evening, especially after time in busy environment

Mental:

Lying awake after a stressful day, even when you are exhausted. Sleep reactivity is the pathway here, driven by rumination and hyperarousal
Anxiety, consistently, across multiple studies
Low mood that builds when life stays hard for a stretch
Burnout at work
Difficulty regulating emotions, and self-esteem that takes more of a beating than it should

Sensitivity predicted 16 to 18 percent of the variance in physical symptoms, more than psychological stress predicted on its own.

That is not a small effect, and it is almost never asked about in a standard appointment.

Why "Your Tests Are Normal" Keeps Happening

Because the trait is not on the lab requisition. Bloodwork measures the body. It does not measure how much the day asked of you, how loud the office was, how long you have been running at capacity, or how deeply you process everything that happens in front of you.

Sensory processing sensitivity is not a diagnosis; it's the way you experience your life.

The Good News (I Swear!)

The mechanisms currently under investigation are all things that respond to intervention: stress hormone and autonomic regulation, the balance of the nervous system, gut integrity, sleep, and the behaviours that buffer stress.

And the protective factors show up clearly in the research. Adaptive coping strategies. Conscientiousness. Time in nature. Attention training. Reducing sensory input deliberately rather than white-knuckling through it. Highly sensitive people who use these do markedly better than those who do not, which follows directly from "for better and for worse." This group gains more from good conditions than anyone else does.

Why I Pay Attention To This

I guide women who are overwhelmed and trapped in survival mode, exhausted from trying to fix themselves from the outside in, toward a life where the mental chatter quiets, the tension releases, and life flows.

A significant number of those women are highly sensitive. Making it to "the line of fine" doesn't cut it for them, and telling them it is just stress is like having the door slammed in their face.

Sensitivity is not a diagnosis. It's the way you experience the world, and struggling here does not point to a defect in you. It points to a poor fit between you and what your environment is demanding of you, and poor fit is something we can work with. Knowing where you fall on the spectrum of sensitivity changes the pace of care and the plan itself.

If you missed it last week, the Sensory Processing Sensitivity Questionnaire is free and available at sps-q.com.

Until next time, scroll intentionally,

Dr. Dominika Zarzeczny, ND · Conscious Medicine