Stimming: Why/how do you do it?

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I have always bounced my leg (I go on my toes and bounced my knee up and down in quick-succession while seated) and I have an extreme desire to flip objects. Give me a pencil and the first thing I will do is toss it in the air and try to catch it as it spins end over end, There is also the very random desire to hit/punch objects (NEVER living creatures) with a fairly reasonable amount of force. I actually have a bruise across my knuckles because for some reason, I thought that punching a wall would be a really good idea and it would be awesome (it totally was ).

So, what kind of stimming do you do or why? Why do you think it is so prevalent for people on the spectrum?

Joseph.

In noisy environments I tap my finger on my ear. I do it to focus in to the "pop pop pop" noise rather than whatever is going on around me.

In normal situations i'm just tapping my middle finger on my thumb, and i've got no idea why I do that, it just helps me think. I used to point down with my index finger and spin it, like I was pointing at a very fast ant running in very small circles on the floor but I seemed to have stopped doing that somewhere in my early teens.

The truth is I don't really know what I am doing when I 'stim' or 'flap', you see I just get this feeling and I start shaking my hands in the way that someone would shake their hands to dry them after running them under water. As I've gotten older I've started to hold pens and socks and other small objects in my hands when they shake. I also seem to have some control over it as I can choose when to do it most of the time.
Has anybody read any research on 'stimming'? I'm interested to find out why it occurs. I've read that people grow out of it but I haven't, is it possible to stop or is it worse to try and stop?
What goes through your mind when you stim, are you aware you're stimming? I've tried to record myself doing it to see what it looks like but I can't seem to do it when the camera is on, I don't seem to have that much control!

+ Leg-jiggling: I do not know why I do it, but everyone in the family always did it (and didn't even realize they were).
+ That weird thing where I can focus and unfocus my vision: Boredom (curiosity as a kid).
+ Tactile stimming: Deep in thought or I need input...More input.
+ Drumming my fingers on surfaces: Boredom or trying to think.
+ Contracting random muscles: Input (to see if my body is still intact - I know, highly illogical).
+ Pressing my body against the wall: same reason as listed for "contracting random muscles."
+ Tracking objects: Bored or deep in thought.

The other stims has no clear reasoning behind them.

As a child I used to stim a lot more obviously and publicly than I now do. The most obvious would be rocking my head from side to side a LOT. I would have no awareness I was doing it and there was little I could consciously do to prevent it because of this. As you can imagine, this made me a prime target for bullying and teasing throughout primary school. I also used to rock back and forth a lot. These days I have become much better at preventing these obvious stims when in public but I will still rock my body and my head when in private. I think it helps calm me and also focus my concentration.

I have more subtle stims that suffice for when I am around other people such as finger tapping, toe wiggling, foot tapping, leg wiggling (though this still drives my wife nuts).

I finger flap, scratch my head constantly, wring my hands, hold my hands pointing upwards close to my chest and rotate them. I squirm my whole body, rub my arms alot while sitting. I pace a lot and am constantly moving when I'm at someone's house. When sleeping I love smelling my pillow and putting the edge of the pillow between my fingers in a weave pattern as it calms me down and is very soothing.

Most of my stims happen when I am stressed or nervous, or just because I like the tactile sensations of something.

I don't know if this is a stim, because I've heard people do air guitar, but i do it only with the right hand, moving the invisible pick up and down when i am happy or excited. Could that be a stim?

Now I know what stimming means,

Nail biting
Cracking my joints (fingers, wrists, elbows, neck, knees, ankles and toes)


and, for anyone who plays, the movement needed to play slap bass.

I reckon it's when you're feeling stressed and would prefer to get away, but you can't, so rather than move away, you move something so at least you aren't trying to hold it all in. And when you're thinking about lots of different things at once, the rhythm draws your focus, so it brings you mentally to a place that is regular and controlled to deal with disorder in thoughts or around you.

I crack my knuckles a lot. When I am really overstimulation, I also tap the fingers of one hand against my forehead repeatedly a few times. I used to flap my hands involuntarily when excited, but I have mostly stopped that. I also stroke my hair sometimes, pick at the skin on my head, and scratch myself repeatedly. All of these things except knuckle cracking and hand flapping are soothing to me. The hand flapping is like an outlet to my excited energy. The knuckle cracking is relaxing or mildly stimulating, but I don't really think it's because I have Asperger's, just that it feels good to me.

Still figuring some of it out.

Rocking: Not as obvious as the 'stereotypical' version, usually when I'm thoroughly upset
Pacing on the phone: Probably my least voluntary, I can only seem to hold off for a few minutes. At a guess, it's to help me focus on the conversation.
Leg-bouncing: Generally when I'm feeling impatient, whenther with myself or someone else.
Singing while driving: Must help me focus, if I don't my attention keeps getting captured by things like the landscape.
Getting fascinated by carpet etc patterns: Generally when I've gotten really excited about something, I think it helps me calm down

There's probably more I just haven't found/figured out yet. I've only been aware that I'm an aspie for less than a week.

the biggest thing I can think of right now is I tend to brace myself alot and often rock at the same time, people are always trying/insisting to give me blankets and sweaters becouse they think i'm feeling cold even though i'm not and maybe even worm. I do alot of pencil and screwdriver playing etc. but I miss almost all stims unless someone points out my odd beheavour.

Here are the ways I stim (tried to put them in order by usage, first = most in use):

• rocking forth and back (while sitting or standing)
• leg bouncing
• biting lip
• biting cheek
• change focus of eyes
• moving fingers (can't really describe this one)
• play with one ear cushion of my mp3 player when in a social situation (I often listen to music when in crowded areas to exit that world and enter a world of "controlled noise")

Maybe I missed one or two.
I guess I do it to relax, distract myself and escape too much input that way or something among the lines.

I mostly stim in the following ways:

- Jiggling my legs up and down
- Rocking my body and head from side to side while seated. This movement also involves my legs - I suppose this is the kind of thing they mean when they say "complex whole-body movements"
- "Bouncing" from one leg to another side to side while standing (same function as the rocking one)
- Tensing certain muscles in specific orders. I often count or multiply numbers in my head while doing this one.
- Playing with things in my hand, a lighter for example. I do things like throw them up and down, rotate them around repeatedly in various ways. Shuffling cards is another one that I like to do.
- Biting my lips

There are more but those are probably my most common ones. In almost every case the reason I do them is firstly because I feel compelled to do it and secondly because I derive a sense of satisfaction or relief from doing them. If I'm anxious I stim a lot more and it has some minor benefit in controlling my anxiety. If people ask me to stop stimming it makes me very anxious.

I do a lot of stimming -- I think I've posted most of these before -- but I'm not sure I can explain why I do most of them...

1) Rocking back and forth (while sitting) and side to side (when standing), but only from the waist down. Never know I'm doing it initially, only noticing it later...or someone draws my attention to it. I've done this my whole life.
2) Foot shaking
3) Toe wiggling
4) Finger tapping -- I do this when I'm driving. I -- usually unconsciously at first -- tap the rhythm to the song du jour floating in my head. It's always my right hand, and always on my right thigh. Never on the steering wheel or gearshift.
5) Bottom lip chewing - just realized this one today!
6) I like to play with things that "click" or rattle -- another thing I just realized recently. Retractable ink pens, strings of beads, lighters, anything with a snap cap (medicine bottles work, and I have a great clicky thermometer case). Having long fingernails is awesome, because I can tap them on the table to make the sound, and I can flick them against each other. Just discovered that I really like the sound of ivory dominoes rattling against each other.
7) Thumb twiddling -- doesn't everyone do this?
Cuticle biting -- usually when I'm nervous or unsure of my surroundings.
9) Counting things -- ceiling tiles, lightbulbs, high-rise windows, etc.
10) Tracing shapes with my eyes
11) Doodling
12) Skin picking -- I had really bad acne for years. It's gone now, but any bump that comes up I attack with a vengeance.
9) Card shuffling -- I can do this completely unconsciously, maybe shuffling 15-20 times before I realize I'm doing it.

Everybody stims when they are anxious, bored, excited, happy, stressed, etc.

Autistic people stim much more because it is also a way to self-regulate sensory input and manage sensory integration dysfunction.

Stimming helps filter out background sounds, lights, etc. and can also give you a sense of where your body is in space and a sense of balance.

Deep pressure like biting on fingers can keep you from feeling your uncomfortable clothes.

Stimming often happens below your level of awareness because it is an automatic response by your body to compensate for problems related to sensory processing dysfunction.

I tend to rock back and forth while sitting down; it helps me to concentrate on whatever it is I'm doing at the time.