The Sound of Inflammation: Why Some People Become Extra Sensitive to Noise & Light

Ever feel like every little sound is grating on your nerves? The hum of the fridge, the chatter of a nearby conversation, or even the brightness of overhead lights feels overwhelming, almost like your senses are on high alert.

For some people, this kind of hypersensitivity isn’t just an occasional annoyance, it’s a daily struggle. Everyday noises feel too loud, bright lights feel too intense, and even certain textures can feel uncomfortable on the skin. It’s not just “being sensitive” or “getting older.” Inflammation could be the real culprit.

When the body is inflamed, it directly impacts the nervous system. Chronic inflammation can exaggerate sensory processing, making sounds sharper, lights brighter, and sensations more intense. This is particularly common in people dealing with long COVID, fibromyalgia, and autoimmune diseases, where neuroinflammation (brain inflammation) makes the nervous system extra reactive.

So why does this happen? And more importantly, what can you do about it? Let’s break down the inflammation-sensitivity connection, what’s happening in your body, and how to calm an overactive nervous system.

If sounds and lights suddenly feel too much, it could be more than stress — it might be your brain’s inflammatory warning system kicking in.

How Inflammation Affects Sensory Processing

Your nervous system is designed to filter out unnecessary stimuli, allowing you to focus on what actually matters. You don’t notice every ticking clock or distant conversation because your brain knows what to ignore. But when inflammation is present, that filtering system starts to break down, making everything feel louder, brighter, and more overwhelming.

Chronic inflammation can lead to neuroinflammation, which increases the brain’s excitability. The nervous system becomes hyperactive, making normal sensory input feel exaggerated. Inflammatory cytokines (chemical messengers) can over-activate nerve pathways, making everyday sensory input feel overwhelming or even painful. The brain loses its ability to “tune out” background noise, adjust to changing light conditions, or ignore minor sensations on the skin. PMCID: PMC5025335

For some, this manifests as sensitivity to fluorescent or LED lighting, where artificial brightness feels piercing or uncomfortable. Others experience heightened awareness of background noise, like the sound of a ticking clock or distant conversations, which suddenly become impossible to ignore. Even certain fabrics, seams on clothing, or small shifts in temperature can feel more intense than they should.

This heightened sensory response is particularly common in people with long COVID, fibromyalgia, and autoimmune diseases, where the immune system remains in a prolonged state of activation. In long COVID, inflammation in the brain may disrupt normal sensory processing, leaving individuals feeling overstimulated by sound, light, and even social interactions. Fibromyalgia, often linked to chronic neuroinflammation, can amplify pain signals, leading not only to muscle discomfort but also to hypersensitivity to sound, touch, and bright lights. Autoimmune conditions such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and multiple sclerosis can contribute to nervous system inflammation, further disrupting the body’s ability to regulate sensory input. 

People dealing with this level of hypersensitivity often notice other neurological symptoms creeping in as well. Light sensitivity can trigger headaches, dizziness, or difficulty focusing. Noise sensitivity can lead to feelings of agitation, stress, or even nausea. Many describe a general sense of overwhelm, where daily environments feel chaotic and overstimulating, even when nothing obvious has changed.

Neuroinflammation doesn’t always look like pain or fatigue. Sometimes, it sounds like buzzing. Or feels like panic.

How to Reduce Inflammation & Calm Sensory Overload

If you’re sat panicking, don’t fret, you can calm an inflamed nervous system, but it requires effort–a combination of lowering inflammation, regulating the nervous system, and supporting brain health.

1. Lower Inflammation with Diet & Lifestyle

• Eat an anti-inflammatory diet: Prioritize omega-3s (wild-caught fish, walnuts, flaxseeds), turmeric, ginger, leafy greens, and healthy fats.

• Reduce processed foods & sugar: These fuel inflammation and disrupt nervous system function.

• Balance blood sugar: Blood sugar spikes can trigger inflammation, making sensory overload worse. Eat protein, fiber, and healthy fats with every meal to keep levels stable.

2. Support Your Nervous System

• Magnesium: Helps relax the nervous system, reducing sensory hypersensitivity. Best forms: Magnesium glycinate or magnesium threonate (which crosses the blood-brain barrier).

• B vitamins: Essential for nerve function and neurotransmitter balance—found in eggs, grass-fed meat, and leafy greens.

• Adaptogens: Herbs like ashwagandha and rhodiola help reduce stress-driven inflammation and calm an overactive nervous system.

3. Reduce Sensory Overload in Your Environment

• Minimize bright light exposure: Use blue light-blocking glasses, warm lighting, and dimmed screens in the evening.

• Create quiet spaces: If noise sensitivity is high, invest in noise-canceling headphones or use white noise to soften environmental sounds.

• Limit overstimulation: If certain textures, sounds, or lights trigger discomfort, adjust your environment as much as possible to reduce stress on your nervous system.

4. Regulate Your Stress Response

• Practice breathwork & vagus nerve activation: Deep belly breathing, humming, or gargling stimulates the vagus nerve, helping to shift the nervous system out of fight-or-flight mode.

• Gentle movement & nature exposure: Walking outdoors, yoga, or grounding (barefoot contact with the earth) can help calm neuroinflammation.

• Prioritize sleep: Sleep is essential for lowering brain inflammation—focus on consistent bedtimes, limiting screen time at night, and using blackout curtains for deeper rest.

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Case Study: How Reducing Inflammation Helped Sarah Overcome Sensory Overload

Sarah, a 34-year-old graphic designer, had always been sensitive to noise, but over the past year, her sound and light sensitivity had become unbearable. Everyday sounds like typing, background music, or city traffic felt overwhelming and exhausting. Fluorescent office lights triggered headaches and dizziness, and she often found herself retreating to dark, quiet spaces just to function. Alongside these symptoms, she also struggled with fatigue, brain fog, and joint pain, which doctors had dismissed as stress-related.

After a full assessment, it became clear that chronic inflammation was disrupting her nervous system, making it hyperreactive to sensory input. Testing revealed elevated inflammatory markers, gut dysbiosis, and blood sugar instability, all of which were fueling her hypersensitivity. She also had a history of long COVID, which had left her with lingering neuroinflammation.

A tailored plan was created to calm her nervous system and reduce inflammation. She adopted an anti-inflammatory diet, incorporating omega-3-rich foods, magnesium, and gut-supporting probiotics to heal her microbiome. Stress management techniques, including breathwork, vagus nerve stimulation, and gentle movement helped regulate her fight-or-flight response. She also made environmental adjustments, using blue light filters, noise-canceling headphones, and warm lighting at home to reduce sensory overload.

Within three months, Sarah noticed a significant improvement. Her light and noise sensitivity decreased, her headaches became less frequent, and she could tolerate social and work environments without feeling drained. As inflammation levels dropped, her energy improved, and the brain fog that had once made work difficult was finally lifting.

Sarah’s case highlights how chronic inflammation can disrupt sensory processing—but with the right approach, the nervous system can be retrained to regain balance.

Conclusion 

If you’ve been struggling with noise sensitivity, light sensitivity, or feeling overwhelmed by sensory input, it’s not just in your head, it’s in your nervous system. Chronic inflammation can amplify how your brain processes sensory information, making normal sounds, lights, and textures feel overwhelming.

If you’re struggling with any of the symptoms mentioned above, book a free discovery call with me to talk about creating a personalized plan to calm your system and feel like yourself again.