Stimming for Beginners: How to Wake Up Your Brain
eeeeooowoOOAAAHHOOOOOHHHwwwweeeeooOOOwww. Now read it again, only this time aloud:
eeeeooowoOOAAAHHOOOOOHHHwwwweeeeooOOOwww
Feel it in your mouth. Feel the muscles in your face dance together as your lips pull wide apart and then back. Move the air into your throat and feel it resonate. Feel the vibrations in your larynx, your soft palate, and maybe even your molars.
Say it over and over a few times, allowing the sounds to mesh into one continuous, rhythmic, meditative, all-encompassing experience. Congratulations! You’re stimming!
Stimming is short for self-stimulation, and humans do it for many reasons: it can be a form of non-verbal communication, it can help regulate emotions, it can soothe anxiety, it can ease the stress of masking, it can help us focus or redirect our attention and sometimes it just feels darn good!
Stimming is often viewed as mysterious, purposeless, and even disruptive when it is talked about in relation to neurodiverse “conditions” such as autism, Tourette’s Syndrome, or ADHD. But, the reality is that we all stim.
Just look around at your next boring meeting and see how many colleagues are leg-bouncing or pen-clicking their way through the monotony.
Swinging as high and fast as you can on a swing set to feel the motion and air is stimming. Biting your lip while you think is stimming. Twirling your hair around your finger when you’re nervous is stimming. Singing a phrase you love over and over is stimming. Understanding when and why you stim can help you be more intentional about it, which can in turn help you be more resilient.
Because food is such a multi-sensory experience, it’s one of my favorite ways to stim. Hot chicken ramen is a current favorite; in fact, I’ve found that the intense, multi-sensory stimulation helps negate the post-lunch crash during the workday.
Mmmm…the salty, spicy smell wafting into my nose, the warm broth running over my tongue and down my gullet, the chewy noodles bouncing between my teeth, the sound of slurping it out of my bowl and into my mouth, and the intense spice that makes my lips tingle, my eyes water, and the back of my tongue pucker. When their powers combine, I am Captain Stimmy!
But seriously, intense stimming can truly make me feel like a superhero. Other times, it gets me through an obsessive thought pattern by creating a break in the loop via a redirection of sensory input.
In my home office, I have an under-desk treadmill. This is not for exercise; rather, it is to provide me with proprioceptive and vestibular sensory stimulation. This helps give my nervous system the “reset” it needs to allow me to get through the workday. Self-stimulation of my proprioceptive system also helps me regulate my emotions, reduce meltdowns, and sleep better.
These are important outcomes and benefits received from stimming. This is especially true for those who have difficulties around self-regulating executive function, which can manifest into meltdowns, sleep problems, and emotional “dysregulation” in the wrong environments.
The list of self-stimulation behavior is long, and how noticeable the stim depends on the person and the situation. It could be obvious verbal stimming, subtle movements, or, if someone is looking at something visually stimulating, you might not even notice they’re stimming at all.
If you want to learn to redirect or manage some of your stims, it is possible to do on your own or with the help of mental health professional. Whether it’s repeating the same jingle over and over, flapping arms and squealing, or even skin-picking, it’s important to remember that stimming itself is not intrinsically bad.
Are there times where you require more self-stimulation than others to feel content? What are your favorite ways to stim? Leave a comment below!
