How Does “Fidgeting” Help Us Focus & Learn Better

Studies have found that fidgeting could help us focus and improves our learning ability

Photo by Drew Beamer on Unsplash

I attended a workshop a few months back and what caught my attention the most during the training was right before the start of the training, the trainer was passing around “pipe cleaners” to every participant. Later on, he explains that the “pipe cleaners” is our fidget toy for us to keep our hands busy throughout the training and explains how this actually helps us to stay focused during the training.

With this curiosity in mind, I went and research more about the connection between fidgeting and staying focused. So let’s first understand what is fidgeting.

Fidgeting comes in many different forms

The popular toy “Fidget Spinner” is not the only way for you to fidget. Fidgeting is when we make small movements repetitively with our hands or feet. Fidgeting can come in many forms such as clicking the ballpoint pen repetitively, doodling on your notebook, looping a rubber band around your finger, flipping a coin, playing with your hair, etc. So if you observe yourself fidgeting you might want to start questioning:

• Why do people fidget while studying/working?