Taking care of yourself and your health is one of the most fundamental life skills. It requires consistency.
But for some individuals, the most basic of hygiene tasks can feel like trying to climb a mountain.
Does this resonate with you? Maybe you have faced challenges with brushing your teeth, showering, or combing your hair.
If this is you, you may be struggling with your personal hygiene.
Neurodivergent individuals frequently face challenges with personal hygiene due to sensory sensitivities, executive dysfunction, increased emotional response to rejection a need for routine, anxiety when waiting, difficulty with initiating tasks, and more.
If you are dealing with personal hygiene challenges, you can see a mental health counsellor or neurodivergent coach to support you.
Use this blog as a guide for an overview of what personal hygiene is, how it is connected to neurodivergence, and advice for overcoming these challenges.
Read on to discover more.
What Is Neurodivergence?
Neurodiversity refers to the differences in brain function that occur in people across the world.
Neurodivergence is an extension of this term.
In the 1990s, several autistic rights advocates recognized that there were individuals whose brain functioning diverged from societal norms.
But these individuals were not autistic. They instead had what is now considered other neurodivergent identities.
From this, the terms neurodivergent and neurodivergence were coined by Kassiane Asasumasu in 2000.
Neurodivergence is an umbrella term that refers to all conditions where an individual's neurocognitive functioning diverges from “normal” brain functioning.
Individuals with these conditions are called neurodivergent individuals.
Some examples under the neurodivergent umbrella include:
Tourette’s
Anxiety
Learning disabilities like dyslexia
Medical conditions like multiple sclerosis (MS) and epilepsy
Other mental health conditions
Giftedness
Moreover, some conditions like AuDHD combine neurodivergent identities. In this case, ADHD and autism are seen in the same individual.
These conditions have their own strengths and challenges, and under a neuro-affirming model, this diversity is what makes the world thrive.
Some situations may be made for an autistic brain, others for the brain of an ADHDer, and other situations may be made for neurotypical individuals.
We survive as a species by having each individual pull their weight in their strong suits and support others where they face challenges.
Neurodivergent individuals face unique challenges, and personal hygiene is among them.
What Is Personal Hygiene?
Personal hygiene involves a variety of tasks that individuals engage in to maintain their overall well-being.
When you maintain good personal hygiene, it involves keeping all parts of your body clean and protecting yourself from infections and diseases.
Personal hygiene consists of:
Body Hygiene: Cleaning your body every day through bathing, showering, etc. Washing your body removes dead skin cells and helps to reduce the risk of diseases.
Hand Hygiene: Regularly washing your hands to remove dirt, sweat, and bacteria. This is especially important after tasks such as taking out the garbage, using the restroom, or coughing.
Oral Hygiene: Brush and flush your teeth to maintain good oral health. This includes brushing your teeth twice a day and flossing once a day.
Nail Hygiene: Keeping your nails trimmed and cleaned
Skin Hygiene: moisturizing your skin and applying underarm deodorant and other antiperspirants.
Clothing Hygiene: Wearing clean clothes on a daily basis and regularly changing out of dirty clothes
Environmental Hygiene: Keeping your space clean to minimize odors and the chance of diseases.
Why Is Personal Hygiene Important?
Good personal hygiene helps with physical health in several key areas, including.
Reducing the spread of germs
Reducing your risk of infections and diseases such as lice
On top of this, it helps with your mental health.
It can support you in building up confidence in your body, which in turn could help with your interpersonal relationships and socialization.
What are the Challenges with Personal Hygiene Commonly Experienced?
Finding the time and energy for personal hygiene can be a challenge for anyone, but this is commonly experienced among neurodivergent individuals.
Some of the challenges that neurodivergent individuals face in their daily lives creep up when it comes to personal hygiene.
Neurodivergent individuals may struggle with personal hygiene for a variety of reasons, including:
Executive functioning challenges: neurodivergent brains often come with several challenges with executive functioning. This could include forgetfulness, time management issues, distractibility, task paralysis, difficulty prioritizing, and procrastination. Individuals may forget when they last brushed their teeth, or they may put the task off all together. They may also struggle to prioritize these personal hygiene tasks over less important tasks.
Sensory issues: some sensory inputs, such as running water on the skin or the sound of the water itself, can be overwhelming for some neurodivergent individuals. The texture of the towels or soap can feel abrasive as well. This can make doing these tasks challenging. Neurodivergent individuals may avoid these tasks to avoid these uncomfortable sensory experiences.
A lack of motivation: neurodivergent individuals have to frequently navigate a world that was built for neurotypical bodies and minds. For this reason, it can be exhausting to consistently have to play up to these neurotypical standards. This can make these tasks unmotivating in themselves.
Sensory processing and fine motor skill challenges: tasks that require fine motor skills and the processing of sensory information can be a challenge for neurodivergent individuals. Certain tasks require a level of dexterity and coordination that may be difficult. This could include brushing your teeth, flossing, or handling small buttons in clothing.
Demand avoidance: this involves an avoidance of demands due to anxiety, pressure, or other reasons. Needing to complete multiple tasks to take a shower can be anxiety-inducing and cause neurodivergent individuals to avoid these tasks or minimize their exposure to them.
When you experience these hygiene challenges, you may face challenges with starting, staying on top of, or completing these hygiene tasks.
You may face challenges with socialization, schoolwork, and maintaining a job due to these challenges.
In addition BIPOC, LGBTQ+, disabled, women, and other marginalized communities may be more likely to also experience hygiene challenges due to consistently facing a world that depletes you of energy. This makes it difficult to retain energy for personal hygiene.
A coach could support you through these challenges and help you to navigate your strengths so you are able to stay on top of your personal hygiene.
Given that the first step to seeking support can be a challenge, we have developed this guide for your first therapy or coaching session to support you through this.
Advice for Overcoming Personal Hygiene Challenges
If you have come this far, I think it is safe to say that you are facing challenges with your hygiene and are wondering what you can do about it.
The tips that work for you will differ from mine, but here are some tips for managing personal hygiene challenges as a neurodivergent individual:
Break things down: sometimes the thought of multiple personal hygiene tasks can be overwhelming. To manage these feelings of overwhelm, you can break down your routine by setting a specific time for each personal hygiene task. You can also break down each personal hygiene task into smaller tasks. For example, brushing your teeth can include getting up, walking to the washroom, taking out your toothbrush, putting toothpaste on the toothbrush and so on. You can celebrate at each step to give yourself motivation to get to the next.
Create a hygiene kit. Sometimes the planning of personal hygiene activities can be difficult for neurodivergent individuals. To reduce the need for planning and organization in your daily routine, you can create a hygiene kit that contains items you can use when feeling low energy levels. For instance, on the days you feel you are unable to shower, having deodorant, mouthwash, and dry shampoo may be a solution for you.
Care for your health when the thought strikes you: if you are having a good day and you are feeling up for a shower, do it. If you have a moment where you are thinking it may be a good idea to spontaneously brush your teeth, consider doing so. Times of good energy are difficult to find with neurodivergence. Whenever you have them, you should use them.
Neurodiversity-affirming therapy: a therapist may be able to support you in discovering your strengths and overcoming your challenges so that you can start, continue, and complete your personal hygiene tasks with more ease.
Make things fun: sometimes neurodivergent individuals can struggle with personal hygiene due to a lack of motivation. This could be worse for ADHDers when a task is not stimulating enough. One way you can increase your motivation levels is to add music when you are showering or doing other personal hygiene tasks. You can also make your toothbrush or hair products colourful or use a candle or another scent that improves your motivation levels.
Keep a sensory record: if there are certain sensory situations that make self-care difficult for you, keep a log of these sensory experiences. You can then use this log to find items and routines that you are more comfortable with. It can also help to identify the triggers that are holding you back from completing hygiene tasks. You can then start to find ways to cope with these experiences.
Consider alternatives: showering or washing your hands using water and soap may be best but it may not fit your sensory needs. If not, something is better than nothing. This is where alternatives come in. If you are unable to handle a full-body shower, consider washing your hair in the sink, using wet wipes, using deodorant, and washing your face with a warm cloth.
Body doubling and accountability buddy: when you lack motivation or forget to do a task, sometimes you need someone who can remind you of the task or do the task with you as a body double. You can choose someone who is going through similar struggles, so the two of you can hold each other accountable together. Sometimes, coaching someone helps you hold yourself accountable.
Manage sensory needs using accommodations. Navigating a world that was not built for neurodivergent individuals can feel exhausting. To manage this, you can accommodate your sensory needs by finding products that work for you. For example, if you don’t like the texture of a certain toothbrush, try to search for one you like. If you feel like showering is overwhelming, try having a bath.
Create a consistent routine: planning, time management, and organization can all be difficult. Create a routine with a consistent time for specific tasks. This allows you to finish the hygiene tasks that need to be done without having to put much thought into when to do them. For instance, you can plan to take a bath at 8 p.m. every night and have one regardless of whether you feel you need to.
Set realistic expectations. Societal standards are often not accommodating of neurodivergent individuals. When you set expectations for yourself, try to take into consideration your energy levels. Just because someone else can get 20 personal hygiene tasks done a day doesn’t mean you have to. Focus on the most pressing hygiene tasks, like brushing your teeth, and leave non-urgent tasks for later.
Ask for accommodations at work and school. Many neurodivergent conditions can be considered a disability if they interfere with your day-to-day functioning. There are laws in many countries in the world that support you in seeking accommodations so that you can thrive as a neurodivergent individual. In terms of personal hygiene, this may include bringing your own hand sanitizer or asking to work remotely with a relaxed clothing policy.
Self-compassion: If you are experiencing overwhelming emotions surrounding personal hygiene or you are struggling to find the motivation to get it done, treat yourself how you would a friend who was going through the same situation. If you are unable to brush your teeth twice a day, try for one time. If you are not able to floss, consider using mouthwash. Be kind to yourself and acknowledge your limits while also challenging yourself to try.
Grounding techniques: trying to complete personal hygiene tasks when you are overwhelmed is unlikely to go over well. It would be wise to bring yourself to a place of calm before attempting to engage in personal hygiene tasks. This could include using the STOP or TIPP acronyms.
Support groups: join virtual groups for adults across the world to get together and share resources and tips for achieving personal hygiene tasks.
Do things in chunks: Cleaning your whole body when your energy levels are low may seem impossible. If you break this down into sections and spend a small amount of time on each section each day, it may be more manageable.
Book a Free Consultation With Blue Sky Learning
When reading this, do you feel like you are personally struggling with personal hygiene? Do you know someone who is?
Blue Sky Learning has a team of neurodivergent coaches and therapists that could support you through these challenges.
Book a free 20-minute consultation with one of their expert coaches or therapists to come up with a personalized plan that suits your individual needs.
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