What sensory overload is, and what adults describe in busy places like shops

By Mindum · Published 14 October 2026

A busy place can leave an adult worn out when sound, light, touch or other input feels like too much. Sensory overload is the name for that [1]. It can happen to anyone [1]. In research, autistic adults describe it in crowded, busy places [2], and some describe tiredness afterwards [3].

What is sensory overload?

Sensory input: anything the senses pick up, such as sound, light, smell or touch.

A health-system page says people without a condition can have sensory overload too. It lists anxiety disorders, ADHD, autism and PTSD as associated, and says it can follow a traumatic experience [1]. Research on overload itself is thin. Most of what follows comes from surveys and interviews in which adults describe it in their own words. These accounts cannot tell how common overload is.

What can sensory overload feel like?

In a survey of 49 autistic adults in the UK, aged 20 to 55, some said not being able to get away from the input was distressing [2]. Some used the word "shutdown" in describing their experience [2]. The overwhelm was linked to crowded, busy places where many kinds of input arrive together [2].

A shop is one example. In the UK survey, one participant wrote that they never go into supermarkets because of visual overload [2].

Participants in the same survey described being less able to tolerate input when stressed or tired, and more able when rested or relaxed [2].

A 2023 survey of 78 self-identified autistic adults, run by researchers at the University of Glasgow, also described tiredness after sensory overload [3]. Self-identified means the people said they were autistic, and the researchers did not check a diagnosis.

The sources describe where overload happens and what people do about it more than how it feels inside the body.

Does sensory overload involve one sense or several?

It can involve any one sense or several at once [1][2]. The sources found give detail for some senses and not for others.

Sound. Autistic adults in a Swedish survey described TVs, alarms, phones and ticking clocks as stressful and tiring. The autistic group was more likely than the non-autistic group to say background sound in health care settings was not acceptable [4] (62 autistic and 36 non-autistic adults).

Light. In the Swedish survey, participants suggested softer lighting in clinics. The authors report that the difference in light between autistic and non-autistic adults was better accounted for by ADHD, and participants in both groups mentioned wanting less sharp light [4]. In the UK survey, some adults described wearing sunglasses to lessen bright light [2].

Touch. Some adults in the UK survey described pressure and soft textures as soothing [2]. This article's sources give less detail on touch overload.

Several at once. The UK survey linked overwhelm to settings with several kinds of input together [2]. The 2023 survey grouped accounts into themes that included overload of different stages of processing [3].

Is sensory overload the same as overstimulation or overwhelm?

The health-system page cited here uses only the term "sensory overload". No research definition separating it from overstimulation was found.

What does research say about sensory differences in autism?

Sensory differences are part of how autism is described and diagnosed. DSM-5 lists "hyper- or hyporeactivity to sensory input or unusual interest in sensory aspects of the environment" among the features used to diagnose autism [5]. Sensory differences are one of four possible features in that group, and at least two are needed. Whether someone is autistic is decided in an assessment, and this article cannot decide that.

Hyperreactivity and hyporeactivity: reacting more strongly, or less strongly, than most people to sensory input.

A 2014 paper notes that questionnaire studies, mostly based on parent reports, suggest unusual sensory perception in most autistic people [6]. In that paper's own questionnaire study, 359 adults with and without autism took part, and adults with autism reported more hypersensitivity [6]. A 2017 review says the revised diagnostic criteria brought sensory processing into focus [7].

These studies measured sensory experience in general, and overload was not measured.

What about ADHD and anxiety?

If you have ADHD, or ADHD and autism, the research is thinner for adults. A 2025 meta-analysis (a study that combines the results of many studies) of 30 studies and 5,374 people found that people with ADHD reported more atypical sensory patterns on questionnaires than people without ADHD [8]. Only 7 of the 30 studies were in adults, only 9 were rated low risk of bias, and the studies varied a lot [8]. Overload was not studied. Only a few of the sources looked at autism and ADHD together, and none found studied overload in people who have both.

For anxiety, a 2024 systematic review and meta-analysis of 63 studies (11,659 autistic participants, children and adults) found that stronger sensory differences were linked to more internalising and externalising problems, which include emotional and behavioural difficulties [9]. The review reports links between measures, so it cannot say which comes first, and a link in a group says nothing about any one person.

A 2024 PhD thesis proposes, from autistic adults' accounts, a circular relationship between how likely overload is and anxiety [3]. The same thesis tried to test the anxiety side in a virtual reality experiment, and its abstract says the results were not as expected. This article treats the idea as a proposal.

What do autistic adults describe doing about sensory overload?

Adults in the UK survey described managing sensory input in several ways [2]:

• leaving a room
• avoiding certain places
• covering ears or eyes
• wearing sunglasses, earplugs or headphones
• going to a quiet space

Some autistic people described wearing noise-cancelling headphones on buses (17 autistic people interviewed) [10]. Headphones have barely been studied: the one physiological study found was a 2019 single-subject study with 6 children aged 8 to 16 [11]. It cannot say whether headphones work for adults.

In the Swedish clinic survey, participants suggested waiting outside or in a separate room, softer lighting, headphones for a TV or radio, quieter ventilation, and written information in advance [4]. These came from participants and have not been tested.

What do adults describe after sensory overload?

Adults in the 2023 survey described tiredness afterwards [3]. The sources found do not say how long it lasts or what helps. The ways adults describe managing input, listed above, are the nearest the research comes.

What this does not show

Research here is small and mostly asks adults to describe their own experience. That shows what people report. It cannot show how common overload is or what causes it.

• Adults describe leaving, quiet spaces and headphones as ways they manage input. None of the sources shows that any of them works.
• The 49-adult UK survey is small and not representative, and people with higher support needs may be under-represented [2]. The 2023 survey used self-identified adults and has no journal version found [3].
• The Swedish study covers health care settings only, and its sample was mostly highly educated women [4].
• The ADHD evidence is mostly from children and from questionnaires about sensory scores [8].
• The link between sensory differences and anxiety does not show which one leads to the other [9].
• This article does not cover smell, taste or movement.
• No study found compares overload with overstimulation, and none covers recovery.

Sources

1. Cleveland Clinic. How To Manage (and Even Overcome) Sensory Overload. 20 July 2023. health.clevelandclinic.org/sensory-overload
2. MacLennan K, O'Brien S, Tavassoli T. In Our Own Words: The Complex Sensory Experiences of Autistic Adults. J Autism Dev Disord. 2022;52(7):3061-3075. doi:10.1007/s10803-021-05186-3
3. Millington E, Simmons D. Autistic Accounts of Sensory Overload and Implications for Sensory Reactivity, 2023 [data collection]. UK Data Service, 2024. doi:10.5255/UKDA-SN-856923. Millington E. Sensorily stressed: an exploration of the relationship between anxiety and sensory reactivity in autistic people. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow, 2024. doi:10.5525/gla.thesis.84280
4. Strömberg M, Liman L, Bang P, Igelström K. Experiences of Sensory Overload and Communication Barriers by Autistic Adults in Health Care Settings. Autism Adulthood. 2022;4(1):66-75. doi:10.1089/aut.2020.0074
5. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (quotes DSM-5 criterion B). cdc.gov/autism/hcp/diagnosis
6. Tavassoli T, Hoekstra RA, Baron-Cohen S. The Sensory Perception Quotient (SPQ): development and validation of a new sensory questionnaire for adults with and without autism. Mol Autism. 2014;5:29. doi:10.1186/2040-2392-5-29
7. Robertson CE, Baron-Cohen S. Sensory perception in autism. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2017;18(11):671-684. doi:10.1038/nrn.2017.112
8. Jurek L, Duchier A, Gauld C, Hénault L, Giroudon C, Fourneret P, Cortese S, Nourredine M. Sensory Processing in Individuals With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Compared With Control Populations: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2025;64(10):1132-1147. doi:10.1016/j.jaac.2025.02.019
9. Chen Y, Xi Z, Saunders R, Simmons D, Totsika V, Mandy W. A systematic review and meta-analysis of the relationship between sensory processing differences and internalising/externalising problems in autism. Clin Psychol Rev. 2024;114:102516. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2024.102516
10. Dirix H, Ross V, Brijs K, Bertels L, Alhajyaseen W, Brijs T, Wets G, Spooren A. Autism-friendly public bus transport: a personal experience-based perspective. Autism. 2023;27(5):1219-1234. doi:10.1177/13623613221132106
11. Pfeiffer B, Stein Duker L, Murphy A, Shui C. Effectiveness of noise-attenuating headphones on physiological responses for children with autism spectrum disorders. Front Integr Neurosci. 2019;13:65. doi:10.3389/fnint.2019.00065

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