Is this a form of stimming?

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I fidget with my fingers and my hands a lot, but I don't know why. Could fidgeting with my fingers and hands be a form of stimming? How do I explain what stimming is to people? Am I to old to stim? Is it normal for adults with Asperger's to stim or not? Thanks

Depending how you fidget with your fingers it might be a form of stimming - stimming is repetitive behaviour done to stimulate senses, most often to calm yourself, fidgeting is more random movement done out of boredom or due to anxiety.

For example, two of my stimming behaviours are to tap my fingers and to flex/crack my fingers;
The finger tapping is obviously repetitive so falls firmly under stimming, however the flexing/cracking is not clearly seen as being repetitive - although some would argue that this is therefore not stimming, I would argue even if the motion is not rhythmic or the movements not identical, the flexing/cracking itself is repetitive and the action to flex/crack to provide touch stimuli makes it a form of stimming behaviour.

So, do you fidget out of boredom or does it provide a repetitive calming form of stimuli for you?
I would explain it as such - stimming keeps you calm and focused.

You're not too old to stim, people of all ages stim - it may be more common when you're younger if your 'symptoms' were worse when you were younger, or as you get older you may learn to hide stimming from others or make it into a more socially acceptable behaviour.

ls it a repetitive physical movement?

Do you do it release stress or anxiety and/or stimulate your senses?

Then it's a stim.

I would argue that the word stimming applies to anything we do for its own sake (ie provides automatic reinforcement) this could include watching tv or drinking or touching ur head at specific spots in a certain order.

There is nothing inherantly odd about stimming per say its just that we tend to develop more specific preferences for what stim and the occasions we do it.

I would say in my own case i seem to get bored very easily. So stimming is a way to fill in some of that gap.

As an example of a broader def of stimming.
I have been on various stimulants most of my life (dx w add as a kid) they do help me focus but only because they make me jittery. The jitteryness (and hiding it from the outside world) fills in my need for stimulation so that i can sit still and focus when the subject bores me or to become so hyperfocused that i dont even notice that my hands are shaking when i am dojng sonething i am interested in. ( hell sometines i forget yhat i smoke cigs for half tge day because i am so obsorved.

I stim, and am over 40 years old. And I'm often not even aware when I stim. My wife was the first to know it for what it is.

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An Asperger's man who has Autism Spectrum Disorder level 1- mild, with a sprinkling of Synesthesia.