Adults: stimming in general

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I am new to the Aspie thing, so have only begun to notice things I do might actually be stimming. In the past I have tended to consciously prevent such things.

Pacing - I found my self pacing in a circle the other day while waiting in a checkout line.
Rocking - Never knew I did it until I starting looking at my movement patterns. I have found I have a very subtle rock that happens rather frequently
Spinning coins (spinning anything, actually. Spinning cubes on their corners is really fascinating)
Fidgeting with small objects
Sitting in odd postures (is this stimming?)
Pinch my thumbs between my middle and for fingers.
I do this finger move/stretch thing
Drum my fingers
Bounce my leg/foot
Sometimes when I start a sentence and the words get a little stuck I do this sort of squint/grimace thing.
My wife tells me my legs move a lot every night while sleeping
Pick at my skin
Rub the palm of my hand across my shaving stubble (I like the scratchy feeling)
I've recently noticed some odd ways of walking and standing.

Probably many others as well.


I noticed that I am religious in stopping these things. I remember harassment by peers and punishment by parents a little too well. Mom bordered on sadistic in her efforts to keep me still.

that's pretty interresting! i thought the rocking and hand flapping was the only thing called stimming, so now i wonder....is eating the inside of my mouth stimming then? pushing on each fingertip with my thumb because i can feel the inside of my nails and it bothers me, so this replaces the diffuse feeling with something more definite....is that stimming? cracking my back? ( i can crack it from top to bottom by leaning backwards but if one vertebra is bothering me i don't have to move, i can crack it by pushing on it with one of my back muscle lol...drives my mother nuts....) what do you define as stimming then?

In public:
Sometimes find myself rocking from side to side while waiting in line
Flick fingers or rub my thumb over tips of each finger over and over
Bounce my foot
Flick tongue against my lower teeth
Bite fingers
Absentmindedly pluck the little hairs off my face using my thumbnail and index finger as tweezers

Private:
Used to hook my foot at the end of the mattress and rock the whole bed until I fell asleep
Flap hands (probably do this in public occasionally too without noticing, especially when startled or excited)
Whole body rocking motion while curling toes back and forth
Used to love heavy blankets until I started getting hot flashes, now not so much.

Forgot to add one I used to do all the time, but not so bad anymore...I would type my thoughts in the air with my fingers, just like I was typing on a keyboard. I started doing this after taking typing my sophomore year of high school and did it up until a few years ago.

Stims:
Rocking left to right while standing
Rocking in seat forward and back
Flapping hands when excited
Rubbing hands together when excited (my sisters called me fire starter.)
Shaking/bouncing leg
picking my skin or my husbands
tapping hands
playing with items
scratching scalp (sometimes to the point of bleeding when under stress)
sometimes i bite my fingers
sometimes i sort of hum a single tone or sound

I avoid rocking in my seat in public
People already notice I'm a little odd because of my clothing and my behavior. I hate having anything else for them to rip me apart for.

my stims seem endless
I agree that all of us stiming aspies could solve the energy crisis

Anyway my stims are
bouncing my leg
curling me feet
picking my scalp
popping my knuckles
tapping my foot
playing with anything I can get my hands on and making repetitive movements or noises with it
balancing stuff on my finger or some other point
flapping my hands when I have a long slieve sweater on


I dont try to hide my stims in public...I am who I am

I do have a funny story though. One of my friends took me to visit her best friend...well I found a small plastic bottle, and started flipping the top of it open and closed cuz I liked the sound it made...a very satisftying pop sound. Well her best friend got all pissed off and asked me what am I doing with her pot!! ! I was kinda embarrased. Ohh well.

At home:
Picking and biting skin around fingernails (they're really badly scarred and my cuticles don't grow properly, and I pick up to the first joint in my finger or thumb)
Jiggling legs side to side or up and down.
Pick skin on lips if they're rough.
Sway side to side.
I wash my hands in between each thing I touch especially if I'm in the kitchen.
Pressing my lips together then making a "pop" sound with them.
I usually have one hand touching my neck or face if I have to stop one of my other stims.

In public:
Leg jiggling
Hand wringing
Stepping from side to side (one foot to the other)
At work if I'm not busy I usually hold a pencil and flick/swing it.
Same with keys or any other object not tied down to the counter (the last guy I worked with was used to it, but I'm not sure about the people I work with now)

Today during commute I sat to a guy that was stimming throughout the 40-minute journey. He was obviously oblivious of what he was doing while the other people - except for me- were visibly bothered and tried to shrink away from him as he moved his hands in a way that could be considered rude (though nothing gross). This really made me sad, obviously if you don't just sit there with a glazed look upon your face, you belong to the madhouse.

Which gets me thinking, is listening to rhythmical music a kind of stim by itself? I've been doing this for years whenever I need to get myself working on a task. There must be a structured, repeated beat to the music and a certain amount of repetition, somehow this helps me focus. That's why I go for rap or raggaeton when I need to get concentrated on task, and quick. In any other situation I would choose different music.

While in public or in general:
-Chewing on nails, but only if they are a certain length.
-Singing and/or humming. Sometimes whistling.
-Chewing on pens or pencils. I try to avoid this since I don't know what microscopic organism may be on it. However, I don't always think about it.
-Rubbing hands and fingers together; rubbing my knees and thighs; rubbing my face; Wringing my hands.

While in private:
-none of your business

My stimming is tactile. I pinch, squeeze and pull the skin on my neck. I wish my stim was less noticeable. I also flick my fingers together and rub my face.

When standing, I cross my arms and squeeze my upper arms and twist my torso left and right a little. I cannot stand still.

When I was little, I would stand and lean against the wall, go upright, fall back onto the wall, go upright... etc. I still do this now whenever I get to stand next to a wall.

I shake my head a lot and toss my hair though I have kept it short for the past 10 years or so and I have no intention of showing off for anybody. Been doing that for a very long time and noticed only very recently that it is definitely kind of a stim, I do it more when I need to concentrate on a task or when there's sensory (usually, auditory) overload. Also, when I don't like something or refuse something - which causes a lot of confusion, as where I live, when people shake their heads, they usually mean yes.

Public
I catch myself having a conversation with myself and feel kind of stupid when I realize I'm talking out loud!
Chew (gently) on the corners of my lips and cheeks.
Bounce both legs on ball of foot constantly when sitting but especially my right leg. Or move knees in and out.
Roll on outside of feet when standing and bounce on toes or go from heal to toe.
Rub my fingers together rapidly with my thumbs.
Stare off into space with eyebrows looking like deer in the headlights (People often ask me if I'm lost)
Pick fuzz off anything.
Watch dust move in the morning sunlight
Tap my fingernails on hard surfaces (see below)
Make patterns with the pens on chains at the bank or move the pen rapidly to make the chain create a wave.
Click my thumb nails and finger nails together (Is this stimming?)

Private
All of the above plus:
Hand flap only when frustrated or angry. I didn't even realize I did this until I read about it then caught myself doing it when I couldn't figure something out and was extremely anxious.
Rock to sleep or move leg to go to sleep (Rhythmic Movement Disorder) this has really messed up my spine. It's SO soothing though. I can't stop. Started as hands and knees rolling on head then was forced to stop by Stepfather via methods which were abusive. Then it evolved into rocking on my side - albeit violently, while banging head from side to side. In college I tried to tone it down to just wiggling my toes. Don't know how successful I was. Now I rock when stressed, but shake leg and foot nightly to get to sleep. I have a VERY patient partner.
I catch my self rocking when sitting. I don't realize I'm doing it all the time.
Love rocking chairs!! !
I used to pick scabs until they bled, but tried to stop after getting impetigo (sp?) infection from scratching

Now that I know what stimming is I realize my Grandfather had Aspergers. He would tap his fingers along the wall as he walked (I catch myself doing this occasionally) and hummed the same little song over and over "Bah, beh, bah-bah-bah". He would also put his tongue between his lips and make a "th" noise over and over! Now I see it in my mom's side of the family. My uncle and mom and sister and grandfather all have or had Asperger symptoms! I wish I knew what Aspergers was when I was a kid! It would have made my life so much easier.

OMG I have typed in the air so many times. Why do we do that?

I started reading and I only really thought about the classics like hand flapping and rocking. Now I see so many things I do or did as possibly stimming. I'm ok with that. But my partner does a lot of these at home, even worse than I do. I'm starting to wonder if he may has AS also. He even has pet names for some of his, like "Jimmy Leg" for leg shaking. Some of his drive me crazy. I'm going to start watching what I do.

i do that drumming my fingers thing too. Im amazed everyday i am on here by how much people actually have in common with me. All these little quirks i had that i thought were only unique to me. I am not sure about the movie thing, tho sometimes (particularly at night) when the lights look bright/ more trippy i always feel like everything is surreal. Is that what you mean? everything kind of looks as if you were looking at it in a movie from a far. I do know that music can cause a huge rush of emotion for me, and i often get chills listening to music i deem very good. Ps. i would love if someone could pm me and tell me how to find my old posts or responses, because i am finding its not worth it to post, because i can never check the responses o.0 i can't find the posts! , what is a stim, like a weird quirky habbit? if so i think many many people have them, not unique to anyone deemed having a "disability".
some more eccentric then others...

Public- when i get really socially anxious i always go for my cellphone and just focus on the screen trying to blank out or walk with the "thousand yard stare"
Trying to adjust my posture
always turning to look at different objects because i get nervous that what im looking at or where its pointed looks odd to everyone ( its weird only now that i think about it, i guess i have kind of had to actively think about looking around and not looking odd just staring at one spot. Even sometimes to make eye contact. (sometimes)
always having to adjust my mouse and keyboard to feel at the most "optimum distance"

alone- none of my "stims" last too long though except for staring off in space
rubbing my fingers together
sometimes i rub my lips
i sometimes have conversations with myself. People talk to themselves all the time, yes when it goes out loud it can be awkward.

Should have read the post below me, wow.
lol thanks for the post, some of this stuff i never even thought about till this very second.

Generally figiting , touching hair or fiddling with clothes. Sometimes tapping and I know it's kinda gross but if I have a cut or something pick at it

My son flaps his hands when he gets frustrated or people aren't understanding him. He likes me to tap the back of his head too, calms him down