The end of the year comes around slow and then all at once. Suddenly you’re rushing in the span of mere days to wrap everything up while simultaneously preparing for the future — while juggling even more responsibilities than usual thanks to seasonal gatherings and the holidays.
Along with vast sociopolitical stresses, all these variables create conditions that make overstimulation ever more likely (and understandable).
Overstimulation is best understood as a kind of sensory overload.
When your body is overstimulated by its senses, the brain becomes reactive and panics, triggering a fight-or-flight state.
This dysregulation can then impact your mood, elevating minor annoyances into perceived catastrophes — and lowering your threshold for lashing out at others.
But you’re not alone in feeling overstimulated, either before the overwhelming feelings hit or while it’s happening. According to experts, incorporating calmness into your day through journaling or waiting to check your phone in the morning can help your body maintain a sense of safety and not slip into an overwhelming state later.
And, when you do start feeling distressed, small practices can help. Deep breathing, with exhales that are longer than inhales, can help remind your body that you’re safe so you can retreat from that fight-or-flight mode; and even fidgeting can help release somatic stress.
We’ve compiled various tips and tricks experts recommend to help calm overwhelming experiences. Keep reading for items that can help both adults and kids feel more grounded at home and on the go.
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Weighted deep pressure can help ease sensory overload in both adults and kids, and can be particularly helpful for folks who are neurodivergent, according to studies and previous HuffPost reporting.
A weighted lap pad is a great deep-pressure option for its portability and subtlety; more compact than your average weighted blanket, a weighted pad can be thrown into your car and casually used at your desk chair or at a holiday dinner table. Just drape it over your lap or your shoulders for a grounding, calming effect. You can also use it to enhance concentration and help with sleep!
With thousands of reviews, this version is Amazon’s bestselling weighted lap pad. It’s available in numerous colors and weight options starting at 5 pounds.
Clip the on-page coupon for extra savings at checkout!
Fidgeting can be a helpful calming outlet for folks feeling overwhelmed, since the practice allows you to somatically release intense emotions.
Fidget tools can be quite helpful in this process — so much so that David Ibrahim, a therapist who runs the Los Angeles-based Glendale Counseling Services trauma clinic, often provides them to patients and makes use of them himself.
We think this chain and ring fidget tool is a great discreet option. You can flip it into multiple satisfying configurations in your pocket or your palm to relieve tension and help ground yourself. Made with stainless steel, the tool is designed to be quiet and durable.
The tool sports nearly 5,000 5-star ratings on Amazon and comes in four colors.
“Feelings wheels” can help adults and kids better understand their emotions as difficult moments arise, according to experts. They can also help improve your communication, especially if you are working on being less passive or less aggressive.
If you start feeling overstimulated at home, like during a phone call or a remote meeting, a feelings wheel pillow may be helpful: The tool will make checking in with yourself easy (and cozy!), while helping to normalize emotional regulation, since the wheel will be incorporated into your regular home environment.
I own a feelings wheel pillow of my own and always appreciate having it around; by giving me more language to specifically describe how I’m feeling, the pillow over time has helped me better understand and be kinder to myself.
This version comes in a variety of sizes and with or without an added pillow insert.
A therapist previously recommendedtactile fidget strips for helping soothe overwhelming emotions and sensory overload in kids. As an adult, I use sensory strips, too — they’re an excellent portable fidget tool, since they adhere onto just about anything you want, like the back of your phone case, notebook, laptop and more for easy, subtle access.
This version from Amazon is available in 13 styles, including animal, sky and gradient designs and more.
This sweet leaf-shaped lap blanket is another great option for portable deep pressure. Chic yet functional, the leaf design helps ensure even distribution of its weighted glass beads!
Plus, this lap pad can be thrown in the washer and dryer. You can grab it in various sizes and weights.
This weighted lap puppy (named Charlie!) is perfect for kids and adult kids at heart. The soft dog offers 5 pounds of grounding pressure for folks in times of stress; just pop him on your lap or hold him against your chest. Charlie comes in four colors.
An easy emotional regulation activity for young ones that you might find surprising? Blowing bubbles, explained Ibrahim in previous HuffPost reporting, since the activity helps teach children how to take deep breaths.
“If a kid’s really upset and you want to support them, you can say, well, let’s do some of our bubble breathing,” Ibrahim recommended. “Blowing bubbles teaches them how to elongate their breath and get some oxygen.” This increase of oxygen to the brain can then help kids calm down.
These bubbles are housed in a durable no-spill tumbler so you can get heavy use out of them without getting bubbles on your floor. They also boast a non-toxic formula so you don’t have to worry if your child accidentally swallows some or gets some in their eyes. Note: Colors of the tumbler may vary.
Weighted apparel, like this splurge-worthy weighted hoodie from Thera is another excellent portable deep-pressure tool.
I own one myself and consider it portable sensory bliss; the jacket’s weight melts away my tension and feels like a secure, cozy cocoon.
Plus, the hoodie looks like a regular jacket, so you can wear it to social gatherings or to work without anyone noticing.
Available in nine colors and in plush and regular styles, each hoodie weighs 10 pounds (besides the adult XS size, which weighs 8 pounds, and the kid version, which weighs 5 pounds)
Note: Thera ships out directly within seven days but it’s also sold at Uncommon Goods. Right now, they’re guaranteeing that it will arrive by Christmas Eve.
Journaling can help decrease anxiety while improving your ability to tolerate distress, according to previous HuffPost reporting.
Free-form journaling can also be especially helpful for adults and teens experiencing overwhelming emotions, explained Los Angeles-based marriage and family therapist Yara Mawad. “It can feel good to write with no stopping point on an empty page to feel like it has left your system.”
If you’re just starting out with a freeform journaling practice, you can’t go wrong with an ever-popular Moleskine, which happens to be one of Ibrahim’s personal favorites. “I found [Moleskines] when I was younger… and have like 20 filled out with all my notes. I love the smoothness of the pages,” he wrote.
Note: You can get it from all your faves — Amazon, Target or Walmart — but Walmart has the black option on sale right now if you’re fast enough.
“Just looking at [fidget toys] can be soothing for some people,” Ibrahim noted in a previous HuffPost story. For example, “An item like a soft rubber figurine that you can fit on a pencil top visually can be appealing and look cute.”
Based off Ibrahim’s suggestion, we selected these cute animal-themed pencil topper erasers from Mr. Pen. Featuring cats, unicorns, chickens, mermaid tails and more, they’re a popular pick on Amazon, with over 3,000 5-star ratings.
They come in a pack of 22, so you can gift some to friends, too.
Studies say that noise-canceling headphones can help adults and kids dampen external stimuli, thus helping calm sensory overload.
We think Vanderfield’s noise-reducing headphones are great options, with versions for adults and kids. They’re designed for optimum durability and offer an adjustable fit; the kid’s version also comes in tons of different colors.
For an extra-accessible emotional regulation tool, a feelings wheel keychain is a great bet. Since it’ll be on the go with you via your keys or bag and not just at home like the pillow, the keychain will be there when you need some grounding help. Plus, even if you’re not in crisis, just having the tool on you will serve as a reminder to check in with yourself during transition moments, like when you leave or return home.
This vivid spinning fidget ring offers another soothing tool for overstimulation. The ring’s exterior rotates when engaged, with a sandblasted texture that will feel satisfying on your fingertips.
Made of titanium stainless steel, the ring is available in many styles, colors and pack sizes, and in sizes 6-12.
An especially popular sensory tool these days are push-pop fidgets.
To use them, press on the toy’s “bubbles.” Each pressed bubble will produce a satisfying “popping” sensation you can feel and hear. I use these myself sometimes to help quell anxiety.
You can grab one in a highly-rated rainbow option or in more subtle solid colors, like this green version (available in a number of hues).
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For kids, “One of the journals I always recommend is ‘Big Life Journal,'” Mawad previously told HuffPost, explaining that the journal’s structure is helpful for young ones.
“These journals allow growing humans to journal in different ways (including drawing), allowing for different ways to learn, understand, connect and reflect,” she noted.
With colorful illustrations and guided prompts, the “Big Life Journal“is designed to help kids and teens build confidence and develop social-emotional skills. The journal is available in versions for different age groups.
Previously recommended to HuffPost by a therapist to help calm neurodivergent kids, these sensory hedgehog rollers provide grounding spiky tactical stimulation (but don’t hurt).
Compact and discreet, they fit easily in a pocket or the palm of your hand. They’re free from BPA, phthalates and latex, and come in multicolored packs of four and five.