We learnt about the 8 senses and how we use them when we eat in part 1.
People who have a hyper-response are very sensitive to a sensory input, and at times it can be such a strong response that it causes discomfort. Some are even so sensitive that the experience causes them pain.
It’s a concept that may be difficult to understand if you’ve never really identified as being a hyper-responsive sensory person, but this scenario may help:
Fingernails being scraped down a chalkboard.
Now you do need to be old enough to know what a chalkboard is to understand how horrible that sound is and how uncomfortable it makes a person feel. My whole body shudders, stomach turns and throat tightens just at the memory of hearing that noise in the classroom. It’s not pleasant.
Now imagine having a mouthful of food when that happens (spoiler alert: it doesn’t end well).
That’s kind of what a hyper-responsive person is experiencing when they are having a strong sensory response.
Hyper-responses to any of the senses can lead to sensory aversions of foods. And sensory aversions are often the cause of feeding difficulties in children and adults, leading them to become problem feeders.
Let’s have a look at how a hyper-response may play out across the senses in the context of food and eating:
Visual (sight)
The mere sight of a certain food or food texture causes a person discomfort. You may see them visibly cringe, or they may try to create some distance between them and the food so that they don’t have to look at it anymore, either by pushing the plate away or leaving the table.
Olfactory (smell)
The odour of the food is so strong that it’s making them wince and maybe even gag. This one we can all probably relate to as we’ve all likely smelt something repulsive at some stage.
For a hyper-responsive person even something many of us would consider a pleasant odour like a garlicky meal could trigger a similar level of discomfort.
Again, their response is to likely try to create some distance between them and the food creating the odour. Given how odours tend to fill a space they are more likely to leave the table or room altogether.
Tactile (touch)
When the food touches their hand (or mouth if they’re using cutlery) you’ll see them recoil and quickly draw away from the food. Their reaction won’t stop until they’ve gotten the food off of their hand or mouth, usually needing to wipe or wash it off before they are completely comfortable.
Auditory (hearing)
For some people the sound of other’s eating can make them feel extremely uncomfortable, and it’s a condition that even has a name – misophonia.
They may appear upset or angry and will probably be shooting you some dirty looks if you’re eating with them. They will try to get away from the sound that is causing them discomfort, either shifting a few seats away or leaving the table entirely. If it’s the sound of food they are eating themselves that’s making them uncomfortable then they’ll likely spit it out and not take another mouthful.
Gustatory (taste)
We often hear of “super-tasters” which is basically a person hyper-responsive to the sense of taste. Much like with hyper-responses to the sense of smell, even foods that most of us would consider mild or pleasant in flavour may be offensive to a super-taster. Their response would likely be to spit the food out, maybe even gag, and reach for the nearest glass of water to try to wash the taste out of their mouth.
Vestibular (balance)
Those hyper-responsive to vestibular inputs may feel as though they are going to fall off their chair when they try to chew, especially tougher food textures. You’ll likely notice that they avoid foods that require chewing or may need to cut foods into tiny pieces before they will eat it. In some cases, they may try to swallow food before it has been chewed properly which could lead to gagging or choking. If they’re chair is not very stable (for example a stool without a back) they may not get around to eating at all because they are too busy struggling to balance on what feels like a precarious edge.
Proprioception (movement)
You are most likely to see hyper-responses when a sensitive person is being fed by someone else, which generally happens more often in younger children.
As the spoon approaches, they are likely to flinch or pull away as though something was coming at them hard and fast. Trying to repeat the motion will see them get more upset and bashing the spoon away with their hand. But if the spoon was left for them to feed themselves, they would probably be more than happy to do so.
Interoception (internal)
Remembering that our sense of interoception are our internal signals, so those who are hyper-responsive are sensitive to these inputs. For example, even feeling slightly hungry could be extremely uncomfortable, and may even cause nausea and extreme hunger pains. It may make them appear ‘hangry’ all the time. Or they may feel overstuffed and uncomfortable even after eating a relatively small amount of food.
Another factor at play is that negative sensory experiences also trigger a stress response in our body. And part of this response involves the release of adrenaline, the stress hormone. One of the actions of adrenaline is to suppress appetite.
So, a sensitive person may come to the table hungry and all it takes is one negative hyper-response to any of the senses and they then lose their appetite to everything on the plate, even a favourite food that may just happen to be sitting next to the offensive item. It’s not until they have removed themselves from the negative stimuli and calmed down that their appetite is likely to return.
As you can see, being hyper-responsive to any of the sense can have a profound effect on the types of foods that you will be comfortable with eating or even affect the amount of food that you eat – maybe even if you eat at all.
We can’t change a person’s sensory experience – a super-taster will likely always be a super-taster – but with gentle progressions through exposure we can eventually make the experience tolerable and minimise the impact it has on food intakes. The SOS Approach to Feeding uses this strategy to help overcome feeding difficulties and can be applied to both children and adults.
In part 3 of the Sensory Experience of Eating series we explore hypo-responses and their role in feeding difficulties.
If you feel that you or a family member have sensory issues with foods, our dietitian Michelle Saunders is trained in the SOS Approach and can help you overcome this barrier.
