Schedule a Sensory Diet into Your Day

Every one of us need sensory experiences daily that provide various types of sensory input to keep ourselves functioning at an optimal level. This is often done without conscious thought, like stretching upon awakening to alert ourselves. We can also consciously plan our sensory input to keep ourselves both emotionally and sensory regulated, by developing a scheduled program of activities for the day. This is known as a sensory diet.

A variety of activities providing information from your senses is needed in a sensory diet. In planning a sensory diet, your sensory preferences and sensations you are seeking are considered, as are your environment, your sensory sensitivities and the activities that are most likely to cause you a sensory meltdown whereby your nervous system is moved into a Fight, Flight or Freeze response to keep yourself feeling safe and you will respond by either becoming physically or verbally aggressive, you’ll run from the situation or you will physically, mentally and emotionally shutdown.

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Essential components of a sensory diet include the individual:

(i)      Identifying their current state of arousal;

(ii)     Self-regulating between states of arousal through use of the sensory stimulation as needed throughout the day.

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The sensory diet aims to prevent sensory and emotion overload by being used prior to a situation, environment or task. It can be used during the event to maintain sensory and emotion regulation whilst in that environment and during ongoing exposure to the sensory input. It can also be used to help you recover if sensory overload does occur, such as in the event of a Fight, Flight or Freeze response.

When experimenting with new sensory diet ideas, reflect on whether the activity helps to organise you or if it is disorganising for you in terms of your nervous system’s level of calm or alertness. Various sensory stimuli are used as required to maintain the optimal level of arousal.

For example, you may start your day with stretching and gentle yoga. Or you may begin with a walk or a run followed by a cold shower. You may take a mid-morning break with a peppermint tea to alert you together with a walk around the block or some wall push-ups. At midday you may take a meal break which involves smell and taste sensory input as well as proprioceptive input through chewing. Sweet tastes are generally calming. Sour tastes, spicy foods and frozen foods are generally alerting. You may do body stretches before starting back at work. You may listen to alerting music if you feel in a bit of a slump after lunch. Mid-afternoon you may eat some frozen yoghurt or frozen fruit such as pineapple, grapes, passionfruit, or strawberries to pep you up. You may choose to chew on ice cubes late in the afternoon whilst working. After work you may unwind with some physical training like weights or a bike ride or a rowing erg. Late evening as you are preparing for bed you may dim the lights, play slow and gentle music, and have a scented candle burning in the room. You may read in a deep, long bubble bath. Lavender oil may be sprayed on the pillowcase for calming.

Having a list of sensory diet options in the event of becoming unexpectedly hyper- or hypo-alert is useful. I refer to these as incidental sensory diet ideas for the nature in which they are used for incidental emotionally dysregulating situations. Remember to include a sensory diet suitable for indoor and outdoor environments. These sensory ideas are useful for you during your day, important for teaching your child how to recognise their level of arousal then choosing from a variety of sensory stimuli to self-regulate, and for having a variety of sensory activities to use as a family to self-regulate in a fun, cohesive manner together as you move as a family into different parts of your day such as meal time, before school and work, or preparing for sleep.

Sensory Diet Schedule

Commit to being organised in preparing your sensory diet schedule for best possible results in self-regulating your emotions. Incorporating a sensory diet will become a part of your daily life, allowing you to function at a higher level to improve your performance and enhance your enjoyment of the various activities and events in your life. Being more purposeful about planning your day will give you the added benefit to optimise your time management to get the most from your day, in addition to experiencing life from a stronger emotionally regulated position. Plan a week in advance or one day, using whatever approach suits your lifestyle.

Sensory Kits

The creation of sensory diet kits is also recommended. These may be themed such as a travel sensory kit to carry with you, a crisis sensory kit for times of extreme distress, a selective sense-based kit such as auditory or visual, an alerting sensory kit, a calming sensory kit, an indoor sensory kit, and an outdoor sensory kit.

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A sensory kit consists of items that provide a sensory experience that is meaningful to you and organising to your nervous system. Items in a sensory kit may include:

  • Weighted blankets
  • Weighted soft toys
  • Scent vials
  • Mini hand weights or wrist weights
  • Handheld screen game devices
  • Sweet and sour hard candy to suck
  • Noise cancelling earphones
  • Chewing gum
  • Scented lip balm, a stress ball
  • A massage ball
  • Scented or unscented hand lotion
  • Skin brush
  • Hairbrush
  • Isometric exercise chart
  • A resistance band
  • Sunglasses
  • Hat
  • I-pod with alerting and calming music.
  • Nature and ocean themed recordings
  • Colouring utensils and books including visually stimulating books, poetry and fast-paced action books.

Things to Remember about a Sensory Diet

Everyone needs sensory experiences throughout the day to regulate themselves physically and emotionally to keep themselves functioning at their best level.

Essential components of a sensory diet include you

(i) Identifying your current state of arousal i.e. hyper-alert, hypo-alert or just right; and

(ii) Self-regulating between states of arousal through the use of sensory stimulation as needed throughout the day.

  • A variety of activities providing sensory information is needed in a sensory diet. Variety of sensory activities helps keep the sensory experiences fun, interesting and engaging. Some sensory input will be used to alert you, some to calm you, and some will be used to maintain you at the just right level you are currently at, suitable for your situation, environment and the demands of the task.
  • You may be sensitive to one type of sensory stimulation such as touch or hearing, and you may choose to avoid stimulation of that sense. E.g. wearing noise cancelling earphones to reduce sound stimulation
  • You may have sensory preferences such as visual stimulation and may seek lots of visual stimulation. It’s your sensory diet and your choice of sensory stimulation is yours to make whilst ensuring it keeps you and others around you feeling safe and comfortable. You sensory diet may include lots of stimulation from 2 senses and just a small level of sensory experiences that stimulate your other senses.
  • Have a few back-up ideas of sensory activities in case your choice of sensory input doesn’t give you the desired state of alertness. What works one day or in one particular situation, may not work the next time to calm or alert you.
  • Activities that provide movement and heavy work have the longest lasting impact on the nervous system. Vestibular activities are also long-lasting and are the most likely to cause sensory sensitivities requiring that they are introduced slowly to the sensory diet to observe whether the nervous system can tolerate the stimulation to keep you remaining feeling safe and comfortable. Vestibular stimulation often occurs in association with proprioception due to the movement of the body causing both muscle, joint, bone and head movement. Touch and interoception stimulation often occur also with proprioception and vestibular input. Other types of activities that last a shorter time are mouth, auditory, visual and smell experiences.
  • Sensory experiences can be used before entering a situation to prepare the nervous system, during the situation to maintain the arousal level and after the task.
  • The sensory diet aims to prevent sensory and emotional overload. It can also be used to help the individual recover if sensory overload occurs.