Yesterday I went shopping in a very crowded supermarket. It was exhausting. I almost had a meltdown in public. do you have any advice on how to calm down / avoid overstimulation during such situations?
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Noise canceling headphones. It’s heaven. I use the Sony WH-1000XM4
EDIT: I would like to add; you should work on getting ‘used’ to these feelings. Suppressing them or avoiding isn’t a good way of dealing with them. I tried so myself for years, it only made it worse over time. Please be safe and try to work on that ~
I have the exact same headphones and I can attest to their awesome sound cancelling qualities.
They are a bit out of my price range at the moment. i think i will buy the kind that builders use from my local hardware store.
You can also try getting refurbished versions at sites like Back Market. Those are significantly cheaper, and only lightly used if at all. I’m a broke college student but these headphones made life so much better.
Keep an eye on woot.com, they have refurbished models sometimes. They really are phenomenal headphones if you can manage to pick them up, and have made things like airports a lot more manageable for me.
Hopefully someone can make some more budget-friendly recommendations.
I try to go during less busy times. Don’t be ashamed of walking out if you need to also.
This, going grocery shopping early in the morning or late in the evening is so much more pleasant.
I use earplugs, sunglasses, and hoodies. I may look ridiculous with hood up and sunglasses on a cloudy day, but it feels like a bubble of safety.
I use shooting range ear plugs because they seem to block the most noise.
Good tip. I’d personally feel too vulnerable with that much sound blocking, so loops are perfect for taking the edge off while still being aware of cars coming around corners or other people out of my eyeline.
That’s why I have headphones, I find all of the noise from people talking tends to be the worst part. But apart from that, I would firstly just avoid those spaces entirely if I can, and if not I focus on diaphragmatic breathing (it has to be diaphragmatic, if you only use shallow breaths I find it makes me feel like I’m asphyxiating)
I don’t go shopping without a pair of effective active noise-cancelling headphones. Whether it’s the terrible store music or random screaming kids, I don’t need the distraction when trying to Get Shopping Done.
It’s only really bad for me when it’s extremely crowded at least if I have my Headphones. Most of the time I can avoid the worst Situations. When I can’t or don’t want to ( I love comic and manga conventions even though they are to crowded for me), I make sure I have a person with me I trust. My wife for example can recognize when I’m about to shut down and will steer me to a silent spot to recover.
This is not any easy condition to deal with. Yesterday, I waa way overstimulated at work and just wanted to go home and retreat from the world. Not even a fidget spinner-like device was able to relax me.
I only go to places that are usually busy at quiet times, though I know for some people that’s not possible. Otherwise I plan out a route to get through the store as quickly as possible (having something to focus on helps me) and wear noise cancelling headphones and listen to something I like, usually a podcast. If it is very busy and I can’t take it anymore I go to the quietest part of the store for a minute.
It does not happen to me very often when shopping, but earplugs with noise cancellation (eg AirPods Pro 2) was very effective when I needed to calm down. When working at the office, I use them a lot since it’s very noisy most of the time.
my shrink gave me a small scented-stick i can put in my pocket (aroma-therapy) and when i’m getting super nervous i use it and it helps very quick. Plus he told me to count things of a special color i choose or to focus on the feeling of my feet on the ground. just those very simple things. Sometimes it works, sometimes i only calm down when i’m alone again…
LOVE My Bose Quietcomfort2 earbuds. The active noise cancelling is one of the best in the industry. You can customize up to three modes with your own desired level of noise cancelling from totally silent, to completely transparent (to hear what others are saying). The app lets you chose between something like 10 different levels of noise cancelling.
In louder environments, you could turn down the transparency mode so you still hear “some” sounds, but not everything.
Then I simply turn on some quiet music to hear my own favorite tunes, and then shop around. This not only helps me block out other noises/sounds, but gives people the impression I can’t hear anything, so they don’t bother talking to me (thankfully) hahaha.
For me I use them while bicycling - full silent to jam out to my tunes in quiet neighborhoods, and then switch to transparent “aware” mode when crossing busy intersections.
Only complaint is the call quality - kinda sucks because the software is trying to noise-cancel my voice when talking to people, and they all say it sounds like I’m in a hallway or fishbowl. I wish there was a way to disable that feature or tweak it somehow. But that’s fine, I don’t use these for phone calls anyway, I use them for blocking out the world.
Adding to the chorus:
Headphones. I use full headphones, Sony something but I don’t recall the exact model, for two reasons: Firstly I find them more comfortable having over, not on, ear headphones. Secondly I find them to be better at noise-canceling than buds/plugs. When I was a kid I had simple construction headphones… not able to play music like my current set but was super-strong noise canceling.
Sunglasses. I used to be sensitive about anything being on my face… had to get over that 'cause pandemic but having done that I find Sunglasses help so much in cutting down unwanted visual stimulation.
Between that, and my phone, I’ve been able to avoid over-stimulation in public for years now. Normally I’ll let my headphones rest on my shoulders but wear the shades. If it’s too noisy I’ll put on the 'phones. If it’s still too noisy I’ll have them play music to down it out. If it’s still too much stimulation I’ll get out my phone and watch videos instead of play music to blot out as much as possible.
Don’t know if this’ll help but: I’ve found a useful stim for me is playing with, or comb/brushing, hair. So I let my hair grow out (and keep the unpleasant stim of hair on me at bay with a hat & scrunchies (scrunchies are better than normal hairties, they’re more durable and don’t pull as much removing them)) and grew out my beard. So I can fuss with a hair or two from my beard and I’m pretty sure nobody takes notice of it, at very least it’s not attention grabbing.
Also: On the subject of hats if the hair thing works, I’ve found ballcaps work pretty well on the hair-control front and the rim is quite practical for dealing with the Sun when it’s in annoying relative positions if you’re outside. Use to not be able to stand hats like this, the feeling of it on my scalp, but with my hair long it blocks that feeling entirely.
i personally like these earplugs for concerts, theyre made to keep things at a lower volume but still be able to hear everything clearly. i personally dont like extreme noise cancelling because I like to know whats going on around me, i just dont like it all being so loud. i think they could be good for a supermarket because you can talk to an employee or something and be able to hear them but much less loud. maybe u can also bring a little comfort item to keep calm.
Headphones, earplugs, sunglasses and a fidget toy. I use the Sony earbuds that have already been mentioned or the Anker Soundcore Life Q30 which might be more in your price range.
I remove all external stimulus like noise, light, etc. With that, the “only” stimuli will be the people around. It’s better than nothing.
Now, I guess you’re from the US what makes it a bit more difficult, I like going there during off hours like early in the morning at the beginning of the week. (disclaimer: Where I live, Sunday is a rest day and shops are closed. We don’t have 24/7.) Otherwise, I order online.
