Have you ever struggled to fully relax? Even if there is no immediate threat? Or felt jumpy? Or quick to startle? You may be someone who experiences a heightened state of hypervigilance. Hypervigilance is a state of heightened alertness that can develop when the nervous system has learned to continually look for potential danger. It can be a highly exhausting state. It can be very tiring to be unable to fully relax, even when there is no immediate threat.

What Is Hypervigilance?

So, what exactly is hypervigilance? You may have heard the term colloquially thrown around. Hypervigilance is a nervous system state that can cause someone to continually monitor their environment. When happening frequently, the monitoring can feel automatic. Like it’s a part of you and you don’t know how to stop.

You may find yourself struggling to remain present in most environments. A hypervigilant nervous system may monitor other people. Sometimes, a hypervigilant state means monitoring your own experiences for signs that something may be wrong.

What Is the Connection Between Hypervigilance and Trauma?

Trauma can teach the nervous system to remain prepared for danger even after the original threat has passed. At it’s core, trauma hypervigilance is a protective response. Your body’s amazing nervous system is only trying to keep you safe. It’s actually working over time looking for threats even when you are safe. Trauma hypervigilance is not a personal flaw. It’s an automatic protective response.

Hypervigilance and PTSD

Hypervigilance and PTSD can go hand in hand. Hypervigilance is a common feature of PTSD. PTSD has usually developed after highly traumatising incidents. It can cause a persistent state of high alert. The ongoing persistency often affects daily functioning.

It can be very difficult to function in your day-to-day life when persistently monitoring for threats. Over time, the body becomes exhausted as it’s not designed to be in a persistent state of hypervigilance. Though hypervigilance can be a sign of PTSD, it does not always mean that someone has PTSD.

What Does Hypervigilance Feel Like?

Hypervigilance can show up in a few different ways. You may notice it in your emotions, where you’re often feeling on edge, or anxious. Heightened irritability or feeling emotionally overwhelmed can also be due to hypervigilance.

There can also be physical signs of irritability. Remember that easy to startle response mentioned earlier? Or being unable to relax or sleep? Potential signs of hypervigilance. Hypervigilance also has some common behaviours. Some of these include, constantly scanning for danger or overanalyzing others behaviour. Lets go into more details for each of them.  

Constantly Scanning for Danger

A common sign of hypervigilance is feeling hyper aware of your surroundings. At most times. You might find yourself constantly scanning your surrounding. Looking for exits in new environments. Or scanning for unfamiliar sounds and noises.

This scanning behaviour can extend beyond a physical environment to people as well. When engaging with someone you may have a heightened awareness of changes in tone or body language. At its core, the objective of the scanning behaviour is searching for potential signs of threat.

Feeling Jumpy or Easily Startled

It’s normal to feel jumpy sometimes, or to get startled. When this behaviour is a part of hypervigilance it occurs more frequently. And the reaction can be more intense than a slight startle. You may find an ‘on edge’ feeling lingers far longer than it needs to sometimes.

The startle response can be triggered by unexpected sounds, movements or touch. When the body doesn’t know it’s coming, a jumpiness can happen. Changes in the environment may also  trigger an intense reaction.

Overanalyzing Other People’s Behaviour

Sometimes you may find yourself monitoring others. Whether a person is safe or not, hypervigilance can cause an overanalyses of another person.  This includes monitoring people’s facial expressions, tone, or behaviour. 

You may also overanalyze potential meanings behind messages. The overanalyses rarely leads to feeling safer. Instead, it can lead to feelings of preparation for rejection, conflict, or betrayal.

Difficulty Relaxing or Sleeping

A nervous system wired for hypervigilance is working very hard. And, it can be difficult to come down from that state when it’s frequently occurring. Remaining alert can make it difficult to unwind. Whether you are just trying to relax, or go to sleep, it can feel impossible to do.

Even if you are able to fall asleep, staying asleep can be hard. You may find yourself walking up multiple times throughout the night. And having a difficult time falling back asleep. Additionally, if you do sleep through the night you may not feel fully rested even after a full night’s sleep.

Irritability and Emotional Overwhelm

A state of constant vigilance can contribute to exhaustion. Your nervous system is using up a lot of life energy to monitor your environments. In addition to exhaustion, you may struggle to focus and concentrate on your daily life activities.

Constantly being on guard can also impact your emotions. This may be related to the exhaustion or being constantly on guard. Your mood may be more irritable or you may feel more overwhelmed on a regular basis. This in turn can also cause more exhaustion. It can feel like a constant loop between exhaustion and your mood.

What Can Trigger Hypervigilance?

Feeling triggered can feel very difficult. Especially when there’s no easy identification of triggers. Or, if they are occurring frequently or feel particularly intense. For the nervous system, any cues associated with danger can activate hypervigilance.

Previous experiences can be a trigger if the nervous system senses anything that reminds it of the past experience. It can be a colour, a smell, a place, a location. Or something else. At times, conflict can trigger hypervigilance. This is particularly true if there has been a history of high conflict for a person.

Unfamiliar environments can also be a trigger. In an environment that is unknown, a person may not feel as able to sense cues of safety. Crowds can also be triggers. Loud or unpleasant noises often trigger the startle response in the body. Sometimes a person’s relationship dynamics trigger hypervigilance. This can even be true in loving relationships. If the nervous system feels on edge in a relationship, or generally unsafe around others, it can feel unsafe in a loving relationship. It may start looking for cues of unsafety when there are none.

How to Manage Hypervigilance

Hypervigilance is a state that can be healed. Individual therapy can be helpful in healing. But, even on your own there are strategies that can support regulation. Like gentle grounding strategies. A simple strategy is to take some calm, deep breaths and remind your body it is safe. Trying taking some deep, mindful breaths and focus on the present moment. You can also use your senses to notice cues of safety in your present environment. You can try combining deep breathing and sensing for safety. These tools can help bring your body out of being on guard.

Developing an understanding personal triggers can also help. Once you understand what triggers the hypervigilance, you can strategize around it. Mindfulness can also be a helpful practice. Practicing being in the present moment, and not running away with thoughts, can help create more calm. Body-based practices can also be helpful. It doesn’t have to be something formal. Something as simple as a stretching practice at home or going for regular walks can help. The key is to make these practices a regular part of life. That way, they’re more accessible when hypervigilance kicks in.

How Trauma Therapy Can Help With Hypervigilance

Are you considering getting support to heal hypervigilance symptoms? Trauma-informed therapy and somatic therapy may be a good fit.  Somatic therapy can help people better understand protective nervous system patterns and process underlying experiences. Through trauma-informed therapy you’ll gradually develop a greater sense of safety. And maybe even feel able to, finally, fully relax.

To learn more about Trauma Therapy or book a complimentary consultation contact Grounded Path Therapy. We have your back in healing hypervigilance!