hyperarousal
hyperarousal noun: a state of heightened psychological and physiological tension resulting in reduced pain tolerance, anxiety, excessive response to sensory stimulation, insomnia, and fatigue.
Noun
hyperarousal (usually uncountable, plural hyperarousals)
- A state of heightened psychological and physiological tension resulting in reduced pain tolerance, anxiety, excessive response to sensory stimulation, insomnia, and fatigue.
- Hyperarousal after a traumatic experience is normal. It occurs when a person's brain believes that person is at risk again because it misreads an external signal or trigger.2010, Liz Royle, Catherine Kerr, Integrating EMDR Into Your Practice, page 35
- A feeling of restlessness and an urge to move in your arms, legs or torso is a state of hyperarousal and can keep you from a good night’s sleep, she said.2024 March 11, Madeline Holcombe, “What to do on the nights you are struggling with insomnia, according to experts”, in CNN
Forms of hyperarousal
| plural | hyperarousals |
|---|
Origin of hyperarousal
From hyper- + arousal.
Questions about hyperarousal
- What does hyperarousal mean?
- Hyperarousal means a state of heightened psychological and physiological tension resulting in reduced pain tolerance, anxiety, excessive response to sensory stimulation, insomnia, and fatigue.
- What part of speech is hyperarousal?
- Hyperarousal is a noun.
- What is the plural of hyperarousal?
- The plural of hyperarousal is hyperarousals.
Words near hyperarousal in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: hyperarousal (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “hyperarousal.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hyperarousal. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.