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Why the Heck Do We Fidget?
Fidgeting serves to tune minds and prevent early death
Many of us tap our feet, drum our fingers, or twirl our hair when feeling bored or restless. Fidgeting seems to be the epitome of mindless behavior — accomplishing little except for perhaps annoying others.
Until fairly recently, it seemed silly to even study such pointless actions. But fidgeting isn’t just a display of random, excess physical energy. Growing research suggests that we fidget at certain times, and that it can help tune our brains, burn calories, and maybe even save lives.
What is fidgeting?
Some physiologists define fidgeting as repetitive, non-goal-directed, rhythmic movements. But a big problem plaguing research on fidgeting is the lack of a consensus definition, and what behaviors to include or exclude. Movement disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease, restless leg syndrome, or Huntington’s disease that cause tremors or other distinctive movements are generally not considered fidgeting. Most researchers also exclude “stimming” the repetitive, self-soothing movements or vocalizations made by those with autism or other developmental disorders.
One recent analysis that tried to add rigor to how fidgeting is defined showed that most fidgeting occurs in the 1 to 20 Hertz range, meaning that the movement is repeated somewhere between once and 20 times a second. If that seems fast to you, try tapping your foot or finger to the beat of just once a second. Your movement will resemble the demanding school teacher or boss, impatiently awaiting your slow response. That’s clearly slower than the rate of most fidgeting.
Some researchers divide fidgeting into two categories. Intrinsic fidgeting involves just moving a body part: finger, arm, or leg. Extrinsic fidgeting entails some device as well — a pencil, ball, or fidget spinner. Whether this distinction just represents the availability of external objects or reflects some meaningful difference in the origins of fidgeting movements remains unclear.
To quantitate fidgeting, researchers commonly use actigraphs — watches or other strap-on devices that contain an accelerometer which records changes in speed or direction. But at least one study found that devices made by…
