Why Indoor Air Sensitivity Can Develop After Illness or Stress
When recovery leaves the nervous system more exposed than before.
I used to tolerate environments without thinking about them.
Then I got sick. Or burned out. Or overwhelmed.
And something about my tolerance quietly changed.
It wasn’t sudden. It was revealed.
Sensitivity didn’t mean I became weaker — it meant my buffer was gone.
Why illness and stress can reduce environmental resilience
Illness and prolonged stress take resources.
They narrow margins.
My system didn’t reset to where it was before.
This helped me see sensitivity as a capacity issue, not a new flaw.
When reserves are low, the body notices more.
How recovery periods can expose hidden strain
During recovery, the body is already busy.
Compensating takes more effort than it used to.
What I once absorbed quietly now registered loudly.
This connected with what I later understood about recovering while still managing environmental load, which I explored in how indoor air can impact recovery from illness or injury.
Sensitivity can surface when the body stops overcompensating.
Why symptoms often appear only after the original crisis passes
While I was actively sick or stressed, adrenaline carried me.
When things slowed, awareness increased.
The quiet made room for signals I hadn’t heard before.
This helped explain why reactions showed up after, not during, the hardest period.
Delayed sensitivity doesn’t mean delayed damage.
Why this shift is often misunderstood
It can feel random.
Or psychological. Or exaggerated.
I questioned myself instead of the timing.
This overlap between stress recovery and environmental awareness echoed what I later explored in why indoor air issues can mimic chronic anxiety.
Sensitivity after stress is a context problem, not a character flaw.