Those “mindless” tasks like doodling and listening to the music are types of fidgeting.
“Everyone thinks of fidgeting as those restless movements we do when we’re bored, but really it’s more than that,” Sara Wright explains, author of Fidget to Focus: Outwit Your Boredom: Sensory Strategies for Living with ADD. “One of the things we know about an ADHD brain is that when it gets bored, it gets sluggish. Literally. People with ADHD just require a higher base level of stimulation to stay comfortably alert and focused.
“ In brain scans of people with ADHD doing boring repetitive tasks, we can see that pretty quickly the pre-frontal cortex slows down. One of the reasons stimulant medications are thought to work for ADHD is that they correct for this when compared to the general population.”
A bored ADHD brain is a sluggish brain.
Fidgeting helps you stay focused
In Fidget to Focus the authors propose that certain mindless tasks -- like listening to music, doodling, chewing gum or standing up at your desk -- are really ways to help self-regulate and stay focused.
All adults self-regulate with sensory-motor activities. When we get tired of sitting at our desks, we get up for a cup of coffee. We switch on the radio in the car to keep us interested while driving. We maybe splash some cold water on our faces to perk up. Even as adults we need the right balance of sensory-motor stimulation to keep us in our comfort zone.
“Kids need more stimulation,” says Wright. “Kids need more frequent, more intense, and more variety of sensory-motor stimulation to stay in their comfort zone. If you try to take those stimulating things away, they’ll just find something else. And this is true for all kids, not just those with ADHD. Because of the way the ADHD brain works, people with ADHD will essentially always need more stimulation than those without ADHD. It’s just a matter of degree.”
Start using these 3 tips for self-regulating with fidgeting:
1. Remember, fidgeting is that it’s perfectly natural. Everyone does it. The trick is to do it intentionally. If you do it right, you can manage your ADHD symptoms in a way that’s totally unnoticeable to everyone else.
2. Fidget respectfully: Be aware of people around you and find a way to fidget that doesn’t bother them. For example, clicking your pen repeatedly during a meeting might not be so cool, but fiddling with a paperclip under the table would be soundless and invisible.
3. Don’t pick something that competes with the primary tasks. For instance, if you need your eyes for reading, listening to music will be a better fidget than watching the TV. If you need to listen, doodling or pacing will be a better fidget than being plugged into your iPod.
This article was reprinted with permission of the Edge Foundation. The Edge Foundation trains and provides coaches for high school and college students with ADHD. Finding your perfect fidget is just one of the ways an Edge ADHD coach can help you or your child.
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