Strategies for reducing hypervigilance?

Has anyone come up with anything for this?

Other than avoiding caffeine/sugar, violent movies/TV/environments, deep (but not too deep) breathing?

Thanks in advance

Thanks for your question. It just helped me re-focus. The first time I heard the word 'hypervigilence'. Who knew?

It didn't occur to me, at the time, to come up with any strategy, as an alternative. I thought everyone had that intensity. But, that is me.

Sometimes, in therapy it would go away.

Some other things I used was to:
up my activity level
do one day, hour, minute at a time
relaxation CD
focus on me, not the subject/object of hypervigilence
slow breath in and out
Tap alternately on legs, arms etc

Thanks for the reminder that it can be countered. Back to work for me.

exercise like crazy to get my energy levels down
watch a funny movie
burn lavender oil
read (if I can keep my mind still enough)
ring a friend
do what i need to do to feel safer (check doors and windows, locks etc)
eat somthing nice - cook it if possible - anything that keeps me busy.
Go for a long walk - preferably away from people
do progressive muscle relaxation
Diaphramatic breathing
Do the 12 thing (name 12 things and their colour whilst taking a deep breath each time)
Write down every word that comes into my head for 5 mins
Run cold water over my hands as a distraction technique
Hold ice in my hand
Paint or write

thats all I can think of - P7

Getting a good 8 hours of sleep each night reduces my hypervigilance tremendously. When I am sleep deprived, my jumpiness shoots way up. Also, if I don't take breaks during the workday to be alone and calm for a few minutes, then I get worse, too.

Work on feeling safe? Learn that you can protect yourself?

I think that is at the heart of hypervigilence, you have learned from an incident that things arnt safe and hypervigilence comes in to try to make sure it doesnt happen again and that you are safe - and often that you are keeping others/everyone safe.... thats tiring!

I think part of letting it go is to make yourself feel as safe as possible and to maybe make a safe place for yourself - even if its the image of your T's office in your head - that you can go to

So helpful.
Thanks!

Working through it in therapy so that you'll know you're safe now.

Drinking calming herbal teas.

If it's really bad, medication (the benzos) can help but I don't adovocate them long term.

Mindfullness meditation.

--splitimage

Phoenix something in your thread jumped out and HIT me in the face..wham! Hypervigilence and working at Keeping other people safe. My daughter 'lost it' at me a while ago. She said she was sick of it all and how I kept trying to save her and her two brothers (grown up with their own kids) She said you act like theres a hole in front of that you are trying to save us from falling down all the time...She is right, but I didnt know that it was part of other people's PTSD as well.

Im always afraid fro them and try to save then from being hurt, from failing..and now its become unmaneageable, as I have 12 grandchildren and now Im trying to save them too....what you said "ITS TIRING' That has hit the nail on the ehead!
Gosh I hope I can find a way top stop this fear. I have isolated myself from them a bit and that seems to be helping, but I miss them a lot too.
I think one son may be hurt because of what I have done, so I dont feel like I can win.

Whew this was a long speil. Anyway just wanted to say thanks Phoenix, it sure helps to know Im not on my own with that symptom.
Amii

i read your response on hypervigilence. makes perfect sense. it all boils down to inner strength and finding it to battle our enemies within ourself. i am very hypervigilant but i control with my mind and breathing, and disengaging from the stressor
tiffany

I have the "keeping others safe" thing too. I have a son with autism/aspergers and when he was little, it took a GROUP of grown ups to watch him at a park - because if someone blinked, he could just disappear...wherever his little mind wanted him to go, he went. SO, I have this major hypervigilence with all of my kids now - it's hard to know at which point I'm just being "realistic" and at which point I'm going "too far". And it IS exhausting!!

As for myself and my hypervigilance....honestly, the things that have helped the most are therapy, and finally, klonopin. I love the other ideas in this thread though. maybe it should be a "sticky" at the top??