Forced to go on Walks

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My parents force me to go for a walk every day. My parents force me to go for walks for health reasons.

They make me walk in a park or hike a mountain in the Phoenix area. I have major sensory issues. I do not like to go anyplace because the sights and sounds overload me. When we go for walks I keep my eyes closed as much as possible. I rarely open my eyes because I get visual overload. I also wear sound suppression headphones.

Is there anything I can do to help me deal with all the sensory input? Is there a prescription medicine that I can take to help me deal with the sensory overload?

I wear sunglasses a lot when I am outside. Even on a cloudy day it's too bright for me.

I love going for walks, so I may not have the same sensory issues, but for me the light is the most difficult... and I live in the UK. It's not that sunny here.

What things in particular do you find difficult?

You can circle a running track wearing a hood to block out all but the track, and your favourite ear hardware. Fresh air and sunshine are good for you, but you might try getting the exercise on a stationary bicycle, stair climber, or rowing machine outside, or through calesthenics. Nobody ever made me exercise much, and I never felt as healthy as I did after discovering the efficiency of using a bicycle. Now, I exercise even with no where to go, as there are many benefits.

All my senses are hypersensitive too, the worst being photosensitivity and sound. But I do love hiking and camping especially in the desert bc of the stillness, quiet and sense of being alone.

I almost always wear a hat with a decent sized brim. My normal glasses are tinted or sunglasses. I also always have a hoodie with me incase the wind is strong. Wind blowing across my face has made me vomit before. I live in Texas and we sometimes 70mph winds.
The hat and hood help narrow my vision focus, which helps alot for me.

For sound, I have gun range ear plugs that mold to your ear. If you have a hat on no one can see them. And active noise canceling headphones when needed that also play music.

Having a grounding force has helped me more than anything. For me its my dog. When I'm going into sensory overload I put my hand down in his fur and it calms and gives me a stable point of focus because he's always beside me. Its helps calm the chaos so to speak.

The sensory stuff I've struggled with for years and still do. These are some of the things I've found to be helpful and make it less overwhelming.

I would try different things until you find what works for you. Trial and error is how I got to where I am now, but that took me years to be honest. I hope that helps even a little bit.

I hope you can learn to enjoy nature because to me it is a beautiful thing. I find it more peaceful than being in public urban spaces.

Your parents really care about you.

Sunglasses can help with the light sensitivity. There are also really good earplugs as well that don't hurt the ears.

audiologists can take moulds of your ears and make you ear plugs which fit snugly in your ear and either block out all sound, or turn down all frequencies by 30 dB.

Sunglasses can turn down the sunlight a bit too.

I sometimes use Bose QT35 noise cancelling headphones, which i listen to music with, which also block out through noise cancellation environmental noise.

I was actually wearing them today, while i walked on the beach. Although today it wasn't because i wanted to block out the sound, as I find the sound of the sea very therapeutic. Today, i used them because i wanted to listen to some old school reggae with horns in, as i am messing around writing some reggae for fun at the mo and wanted to hear what others had done.

With the music going, and if the environmental noise isn't too high, i can almost lose touch with the world around me completely. My experience becomes more like playing VR than reality.

That's the only danger with such good headphones
i can lose contact with reality and forget the dangers

such as walking in front of a bus
or walking into a bicycle

thankfully not many bicycles or busses on the beach

Forced?.. Forced? Like, At gunpoint? Dont let people push you around..even if your a kid, and its your parents...(i cant tell you how many times i was told off by teachers, slapped around by parents, as a kid, nobody forced me to do sht) infact my stubborn resistance to authority and acting out is what got me diagnosed in the first place. They would have never known otherwise.

Sunglasses/tinted lens.
If you can't wear one, just look down and wear a comfortable visor or any hat you would wear that can do the same job.
Or combine both if you have the means to.

Not sure how to deal with sounds.
If you can wear an ear plug or noise canceller, then go on.
Or redirection of focus; something to do with walking meditation. Mine happened to be pointed at weight-gravity or proprioceptive-movements sensations.


Also get comfortable as possible;
You may not know; you might also be overwhelmed or tense or compensating the whole time while walking without knowing.
It can be with clothing, or foot wear, or the terrains, or posture and breathing...

I had. It also does not do any favor when dealing with the rest of the senses.

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