Does anyone else do this?

[Causeimunderyourspell]

Posting here for traffic. I do this weird thing where if I'm somewhere really busy, I literally space out. A couple of examples which are more worrisome to me are soft play and swimming. I don't know why but it feels as though my brain is shutting off and I'm just staring into space.

I'm alert in situations such as a busy street when crossing the road etc. It's literally just indoor somewhere busy. I really struggle with any kind of shopping as well as once I'm in, if it's busy at the time, I try my best but come out having completely forgotten what I went in there for.

Does anyone else have this or even an explanation? It's so weird and I really struggle to pull myself out of it!!

The closest I’ve had to something that sounds like this is the dissociative part of a panic attack.
It’s really weird and feels like you’re looking at your body from the outside - I also get a strange feeling in my mouth.
Do you have any anxiety issues normally?

I know your experience very well, it's like being in a thick glass jar; you can see everything going on but are not really a part of it. It's protective but at the same time it doesn't feel right.

I call it my stasis. I feel like I have "stopped" and the world continues on around me.

I suffer from anxiety.

I can get this when there’s too much visual input / it’s to do with my migraines I think, it’s like my brain can’t come with all the images coming at me. Soft play would be prime for that because of all the colours movement, but shopping centres are the absolute hardest, plus the lighting can affect me too.

I have this - it's just sensory overload due to my ASD.

Complex partial seizures? (Not as scary as it sounds :))

What curious8 said. It could just as easily be a kind of stress response, but you should probably see your gp.

Sometimes, if I'm somewhere very noisy and I'm already a bit anxious. There's something about the noise of a lot of people talking I find very overwhelming.

I get this in IKEA. And supermarkets. I think it’s all the stuff.

Sounds like a stress response to overstimulation. Go see your GP & discuss options. Breathing techniques may help too.

I go through phases where I find places like supermarkets overwhealming and disorienting. I just wander round not really being able to engage. I remember wondering how they ever sell anything. A combination of strip lights, no fresh air and lots of people is my hell. It just doesn’t suit how my nervous system works.
I function best outside, so a crowd at a festival works ok for me, but I’d hate it inside.
I’m quite accepting of it, I’m used to not enjoying mainstream things( don’t judge it, it’s just st not for me).

it’s interesting that people are posting about going to GP. I do deal with my mild anxiety with meditation and yoga, but I don’t want to medicate.
I think we’ve created a world that people often don’t thrive in , lots of stress, life being complex, too much sedentary living, big split between mind and body etc.
I think what suits me what a quite a simple life, which I am really really fortunate to have, but it’s not achievable for many who can’t step outside the rat race for reasons that are out of their control.

I’m not sure I’m articulating it well, but i think there is something to be said for altering your life to suit you, rather than altering yourself to try and suit a stressful modern life.

It could also be due to sleep deprivation rather than anxiety. Your brain can go into a state of partial sleep, with some brain areas functioning as awake and others as asleep, causing altered perception