You’re Not Lazy, You’re Overstimulated! - How to Create a Sensory-Friendly Work Environment

 Welcome to the Outsmart, A DHD podcast. I'm your host, Jamie Catino, board certified occupational therapist. Two-time Ted Speaker, A DHD coach, A DHD, advocate and Reality Show, contestant. Now let's talk about A DH. D.

 Hello friends. How are you doing today? Oh my goodness. I was just talking to you just a bit ago. I recorded a whole ass podcast, a 17 minute podcast, and then went back and saw it's not there. What the fuck? So here I am rerecording it because it's important to me to be able to get this information out to you.

Today I am talking about how to meet your sensory needs in your work environment. All of the strategies in the world will not matter if your sensory needs are not being met. So what the fuck even are sensory needs? We all have. Senses, right? There's taste, touch, sight, proprioception. There's a lot of things.

You know it, you've lived it. But what happens when those sensory needs are not met is that it's really hard to focus. And guess what? It's already really hard for us to attend to something that is a non-preferred task. Having A-D-H-D-A-D-H-D really shouldn't be called a deficit in attention. It should be called difficulty

regulating attention disorder, because we've all been in hyperfocus mode before and we've all been in the place where we just cannot do the thing. Anyway, that's not exactly what this episode is about, but that will be a whole lot harder for you if your sensory needs are not being met. So let's talk about what I mean by sensory needs.

Our bodies are really good at telling us what we need, although it's not speaking in words, so sometimes we don't know exactly what it's telling us. We can be sensory seeking or sensory avoidant, and depending on the stimuli on what that sense is, it could be one or the other. Sensory seeking is when you are seeking more of that input.

Imagine yourself twiddling your thumbs or. Sitting upside down on your couch because you want more sensory input or dancing, or feeling like you really wanna hug or listening to loud music. All of those are sensory seeking behaviors. You are looking for more of that sensory stimuli. Sensory avoidant.

That is when. You are trying to get away from that sensory information, that sensory input. Imagine yourself walking into a store and they have bright fluorescent lights, and you immediately get a headache that is a sensory avoidant cue from your body saying, Hey, this is not feeling good to my nervous system.

Can it go fuck off? When you create an environment in a work environment that honors your sensory needs, it is wild how much more you are able to get accomplished in the same amount of time. So to make this really applicable to you, I'm gonna talk about all the different things that I do to set myself up for success in my work environment, and there's a really good chance that.

You struggle with some of these things too, or some of these things that I have struggled with before. Understanding my A DHD brain, my A DHD brain and sensory needs. A lot of these things are probably the same things that you struggle with too on some level. So let's get into it.

The first place that you'll start is actually with yourself and what you are wearing. And no, I'm not talking about dressing for success and because if you do that, you'll feel confident and you'll get more things done. Fuck that. That's not what we're talking about today. What I'm talking about is how your clothes feel on your body.

Growing up, my mom also had.

Not neurotypical sensory needs. Highly suspect. I know that she had a DHD, but I highly suspect that she was also autistic. She would cut out the tags from my shirts from when I was a little kid. Now growing up, nobody's cutting the tags outta my shirts and. I would notice, oh my gosh, like I cannot wear this shirt.

It's either it feels scratchy or the tag is bothering the shit out of me. Something that was life changing is I had a friend who gifted me. A pair of seam rippers, which allowed me to take the tag out of my shirt without ruining the shirt, and it's also widened the amount of shirt or the number of shirts that I'm able to wear because I don't have to only wear shirts that are tagless or that I can't feel the tag, which is really hard to find.

Another thing that could bother be bothering you with your shirt is it just feeling too tight? Is it cutting you off in a certain place in your arm or in your stomach? That is not feeling good. Once upon a time when I was not feeling comfortable in my own skin, I would try to buy clothes that are the sizes, the smallest size that I could possibly fit into just because of the issues that I had at that time.

Now that I really focus on doing what's best, what feels the best, I will buy my clothes maybe even a little bit bigger than I need to because I know I'm able to focus. Wear a shirt that has a really comfortable material that isn't touching you in a certain place, or it isn't cutting off your skin in a certain place or bunching in a certain place.

Because if that's happening, it's gonna bother the shit out of you for as long as you're wearing that shirt. Now let's talk about your pants. When I put on pants. If I'm wearing jeans, I don't wear a pair of jeans that I couldn't do the splits in. If I was able to do the splits, I think that'd be really cool if I could do that.

I can't, can someone teach me anyways? Any clothes that I wear, whether it be I'm sitting at my desk, if I'm at a photo shoot, if I'm doing a speaking engagement, they are all comfortable clothes. That is priority number one. I don't give a shit what something looks like until I know it is comfortable on my body.

If you're noticing that your pants are bothering you because they're cutting off in a certain part of your stomach, or they just feel too tight.

That's a cue that your sensory needs are not being met.

Check in with your body and see how it's feeling on you.

And aside from your clothes, let's talk about hair. Currently my hair's bothering the shit on me 'cause I have a few wispies that are touching the back of my neck and it's bothering me like crazy. You will notice if you ever have a call with me, if you're my client or if you've ever seen a video of me and my hair is up, it's because.

The feeling of my hair touching me can also often drive me up a wall. And then it's the fun dance between can I put it up in a bun and how long can I put it up in a bun before I don't get a headache? And how long can I keep it down before it drives me insane? I'm about three seconds away from shaving it off a lot of days.

But even doing your hair in a way that meets your sensory needs for a long time I would wear my hair in, in braided pigtails because it was a way for me to feel as little of the hair as possible, especially if I braided it to where the hair sat towards my back and I had a shirt on that covered where my hair was hitting.

Beautiful. I'm not feeling it. It's out of my way. Perfection. Now let's move on to what you're sitting at in your work environment if you have a seated work environment. We've been taught that professionalism looks a specific way, and this episode is gonna debunk that because professionalism is simply your ability to give a product or a service and somebody pays for it.

If you can do that, great, you are a professional gold star for you. The rest of this shit has been installed in us by society. White supremacy has largely told us what professionalism looks like, let's redefine that. What are you sitting in? Is it comfortable? I do not sit in an office chair. I sit in one of those oversized circular chairs, that swing side to side.

I think it's technically called like a round couch 'cause it's pretty big. And that is because it allows me to sit crisscross applesauce. I'm able to get that sensory input in my legs and it helps me to be able to focus as we speak. I have my computer on a pillow in front of me sitting crisscross applesauce in the middle of this chair.

That is what's most comfortable for me as I am also fidgeting with my little hair bart thingy. So look at your chair. Is it comfortable? Are you able to touch the floor? Are you able to sit crisscross applesauce? This is how I am most comfortable all of the time. If you see me sitting on my couch, I'm either like laying down or sitting with my feet just straight out in front of me, completely supported, or I'm sitting crisscross applesauce.

If you've run into me in a restaurant, I'm in a booth sitting crisscross applesauce. I cannot stand when I get seated somewhere that I have to sit in a regular chair because one, I'm vertically challenged and I can't touch the floor. And two, I'm just uncomfortable because I can't sit crisscross applesauce.

So if you can find a chair that completely supports you in a way that feels good to you, now let's talk about your desk.

Is your desk at a height that feels good to you? Are you able to reach your computer or whatever you need to work easily from where you are seated? I recently bought a new desk because this chair is not an office chair and it sits much lower than a regular office chair does, and therefore my desk feels too high.

Also side note, this is the occupational therapist in me. If you could have a nerve pain, like repetitive strain injuries in your hands, and you are someone who sits at a desk often and does a lot of typing or on a computer or whatever, there's a really good chance that the ergonomics of your desk and your chair is not optimized to you and that's causing a lot of your repetitive strain injuries.

That's just a little side tip. The OT and me had to say that, but look at your desk. Is it at a comfortable height for you? Are you able to rest your arms on it as well as you need to? Are you able to sit comfortably for a long conference call or a long meeting? For me when I'm on calls, I used to try to lean forward in this in my large, like oversized round couch thing, but now I just take my computer and I put it in front of me and I prop it up on a pillow.

There we go. Now it's at the eyesight that I need, and I'm able to get all of my sensory needs met. Okay, now we're moving on to your external environment. What is the environment like that you have to sit in? Is it really noisy? Do you have a hard time focusing because of the auditory stimuli? If that's the case, I highly recommend some noise canceling headphones.

And if you don't wanna do noise canceling headphones, you can try some noise canceling earbuds. I've heard from a lot of you that loop earbuds can be really nice and they can come in different sizes and whatnot. So if you're someone who doesn't want to. Have the visual of wearing big headphones, great.

Try some earbuds. For me, it's much more comfortable to have those larger noise canceling headphones. It just feels better in my ears. It doesn't cause pain. It sits in there better. I probably just haven't had a pair that was high enough quality to feel good in my ear, but that's also my sensory thing too.

It is gonna be really, it's gonna feel really weird to you when you are creating a sensory friendly environment for yourself, because the society that we live in does not emphasize things like this. But when you have a neurotype that demands different sensory needs, it means that to be able to focus, you're gonna need a different type of envi of environment.

And the cool thing is, a lot of this, you have control to be able to modify yourself.

So if you're having a hard time focusing because of hearing people talking, or if any little noise kind of gets you off your game, try some noise canceling headphones. It's absolutely a game changer. I am purposely recording this podcast episode while my partner is out doing his grocery, doing the grocery shopping so that it's nice and quiet and I don't have to worry about anything.

But if he wasn't around, I would have headphones on.

If you are someone who doesn't work in an office, let's say that you're a therapist and you walk around a building and you do your documentation wherever, or you have an office, but it's noisy. This is what it was like for me when I was working in the. Traditional healthcare system and I worked in a nursing home, and that place can be pretty noisy sometimes.

Let me tell you, especially in the rehab room where. Our computers were set up to do our documentation. Luckily I had a laptop and what I would do is I would actually take that laptop and I would go to a wing of the nursing home where residents or patients weren't at, and I would do my documentation there.

My director said something to me once oh, do you not wanna hang out with us? And I'm just like, no. I just needed to be quiet to do my documentation. And it just became a normal thing. They knew that I'd be off in a corner doing my documentation because there was no way in hell I was gonna be able to get it done in a noisy rehab room.

I got to the point where I would bring my noise canceling headphones to work, and that would also help me to be able to get my notes done if I was in the rehab room.

Taking myself to a separate area was not only helpful for the auditory stimuli, but it was also really helpful for the visual. There's a lot of you that I know get really distracted because of seeing something happening in your environment. There's a reason that I always have my office door closed.

It's because. If my cute little puppy is in here, I'm gonna wanna pet him and tell him what a cute little baby he is. But that's not really helpful for being able to record a podcast. If I can see anything in my environment that is, moving around, or if I hear things, it can be really overstimulating, but also just take away from my attention that I need to be able to get focused work tasks done.

So taking control of your environment as much as you can. If you need to put a block up on each side of your desk so that you don't have the auditory stimuli. I don't care if you have to buy a plant so that you can't see your neighbor, whatever it is, do what you can to take control of that environment.

If your office is too bright or the. Blue light from your computer gives you a headache. I'm someone that gets a headache so easily, either blue light glasses can be helpful. I'm someone that even if I wear glasses and it's just sitting on my face, it'll gimme a headache. So there can be like filters on your computer that can filter out the blue light, and that can be really helpful too.

And then of course, there's. The advice that I don't follow nearly enough, which is sometimes your eyes just need a break from that screen. I know that if I look at a screen for most of the day, I will have a headache by that night, and it sucks, and it's just what it is, and I need to take more breaks, which is why I have an app blocker on my phone so that I am not playing a lot of games or scrolling in between.

Work tasks, not because there's anything morally wrong with, scrolling a bit at work or playing some games on your phone. Sometimes it can be really nice to decompress, but for me, I know that having that stimuli, especially with a game or if I'm scrolling that like quick scrolling stimuli, say like TikTok, it'll gimme a headache and it sucks because I love me some TikTok.

But these are things that I've had to do to control my environment so that I am able to. Do things like give you this podcast most weeks.

If your body is feeling fidgety, oftentimes you're looking for sensory input. Things like playing with a fidget, going for a walk. Even if you have to go into the bathroom and do some jumping jacks for some sensory input, that can be really helpful. Being able to focus, I'm a really big fan of fidgets, and if you're feeling overstimulated, if your body's telling you, oh my gosh, I just need a break.

My eyes need a break, my body needs a break. I just need to be able to move around. You can do something unconventional, like if your workplace has a single room stall bathroom. Go in there and turn the lights off. Let yourself do some deep breathing, decompress, and then come back. There are so many creative ways to meet your sensory needs, and you get to play around and see what works for you.

Oh, did we talk about hair yet? Hair can drive you up a wall. I know it does for me. I like having long hair and I like having I like the look of having long hair, but my gosh, it can drive me bananas. So check in with yourself. Is the feeling of your hair on your neck driving you up a wall? Would you feel more comfortable if it was up in a bun for a long time?

I wore my hair and these. Braided pigtails, where it was braided to where the pigtail hit my back. And since I had a shirt on, it would hit it in a way where I didn't touch my skin and that felt good. And then I have to just balance between having it up in a bun and having it down because if it's up in a bun too long, I'll get a headache.

And if it's down, it'll drive me bananas on the back of my neck. And sometimes there is not a perfect solution. None of these are perfect solutions, but. Looking at all of these different aspects are going to make a huge difference when it comes to your ability to focus and get work done. I hope this has given you some ideas of how to optimize your work environment.

I. I hope that you start putting yourself first instead of what other people think about what it looks like to be a professional, because I can guarantee that when you put that first, you are going to be able to get so much more done. You're gonna feel much more confident in your abilities, and you're gonna realize that a lot of the reasons that you struggled wasn't because you are a flawed human with a personality that doesn't like to work or doesn't like to get things done.

It's because you struggled with your sensory needs. And that should be step one when you're struggling to get things done.

If you are a career-driven A DHD woman that is struggling with burnout and you're struggling with your work, I. Let's hop on a call together. In the show notes, there is a link where you can sign up for a free call with me for 30 minutes and we're gonna chat about what you are struggling with in your life.

There's a really good chance that if you're struggling in your work life, that you're also struggling in your home life and that you probably have very little time for yourself. And you know what? I want you to have optimal time to be able to watch. The secret lives of Mormon wives or married at first sight, or the queer ultimatum, which are things that I've all that I've been watching recently.

Anyway, I will talk to you next week. Meet those sensory needs, hop on a call with me. Thank you so much for watching or for listening to the show. And if you have a minute, I would love for you to leave a. Review because reviews help to push this podcast out to those who are needing the help and aren't sure where to look.

I will talk to you next time, friends. Bye now.

Are you a high achieving woman with a DHD looking for a coach or maybe an event coordinator looking for a wildly captivating speaker? Perfect. Go to outsmart adhd.co. That's out. Smart adh adhd.co to get in touch. And before I forget, would you mind taking a minute to share this podcast with someone you love?

It would mean the world to me. Thanks, my friend. Until next time.

 Are you a high achieving woman with a DHD looking for a coach or maybe an event coordinator looking for a wildly captivating speaker? Perfect. Go to outsmart adhd.co. That's out. Smart adh adhd.co to get in touch. And before I forget, would you mind taking a minute to share this podcast with someone you love?

It would mean the world to me. Thanks, my friend. Until next time.