Using our senses to be sensational

Everyday can be sensational. But what exactly are we referring to? A sensational day is full of different experiences that make us feel good, inside and outside. Furthermore, we ourselves can be sensational, it all depends on what we receive through our senses, how we perceive our surroundings, and how we interpret that information in our brains. As a standard definition, the Merriam-Webster dictionary states that sensational means "of or relating to sensation or the senses; arousing a strong and usually shallow interest or emotional reaction; exceedingly or unexpectedly excellent or great."

We all learned about our senses, from a very early age. Kids are taught in preschool how things feel, how they smell, how they taste, what sound they make. And when they enter kindergarten, they start learning about our five senses. Really? Just five? We all have heard about the sixth sense, but the truth is that we have eight senses.

Getting to know our senses

Taste(gustatory):We use this sense in our mouths and it helps us distinguish flavors and qualities of food, as well its textures. We can differentiate if a food is sweet, salty or sour. It gives us the ability to determine if it is mushy, chewy or crunchy.

Touch(tactile): This is the sense that allows us to feel when something comes in contact with our body surface (skin). We use it to determine is a fabric is soft or rough, how we feel when someone or something presses against our skin, even feeling when you are having your hair washed, combed or cut.
 
Smell(olfactory): It allows us to recognize the scent of the things around us and discriminate which fragrances are pleasant to us and which are not.

Sight(visual):Refers to how we see things and distinguish one thing from another. We use it to recognize facial expressions, to differentiate everything around us, and gives us the ability to focus on only one thing if we want to.

Hearing(auditory): This sense determines how we perceive sounds, so that we can listen correctly when someone speaks to us, or when there are alarms going off, and being able ti discern the noises around us.

Interoception: This is how we perceive and process the stimuli from inside our body, such as hunger, having to go to the bathroom, feeling pain or feeling tired.

Proprioception: We use this sense to determine the position of our body parts and what we need to do to move them using our joints and muscles. This sense is responsible for the pressure we need to make in and out, like when we jump, throw a ball, or grabbing a pencil to write or even hugging someone.

Vestibular: This is the sense responsible for your spatial orientation and your balance. This is done through our inner ear. It is related to our body movements and our postures. We use this sense when we go on a swing, when we are lying down, or doing cartwheels.

Sensory processing refers to how our brain understands what we experience through our senses. Nereida Ritz, OTR/L from Essential Therapy here in South Florida compared it to when we use a computer. "You type what you want in the keyboard, and then the computer has to interpret the information through a program, and then you see it in the monitor." However, if this information is not processed correctly, then we might not get the desired outcome. This is what happens if you have Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD). It can affect one of the senses, or more than one at the same time. In the book Sensational Kids: Hope and Help for Children with Sensory Processing Disorderby Lucy J. Miller, SPD is explained in more detail.

We all have sensory needs. The problem arises when those needs are not met properly and affect our daily life. If we can interpret and integrate our senses properly, then we can function effectively and feel sensational.