Rocking back and forth.

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Does anybody else do this? I rock back and forth very often whilst seated and people have commented upon it.

Last edited by martyfan on 31 Dec 2010, 9:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

This is very common with autism spectrum and also some mental illness. I do it quite a bit.

That's interesting. Do we know why that is?

Yup, do it mainly when I am excited. Also bopping my legs, pacing, whistling/singing/humming.

It relieves emotional and mental tensions, be it positive or negative tension.


Another word for this is 'stimming', meaning stimulating - most people with autism do this as elaborated in the above.

I rock when excited, unable to focus, nervous, after a panic attack.

In general I do it all the time. I have experienced panic attacks also in the past (generally in social situations of something I am uncomfortable with). None the less it's a habit I am compelled to be in mutual agreement with. I've read that it is associated with autism. However I do not understand why.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f15JexiQt4U[/youtube]

Even Bill Gates does it
(Debate is open if he falls under the spectrum, but alot points toward this diagnose)

Heh, Bill Gates rocking resembles me A LOT! I start doing it when excited especially at least, people look at you when you do it in public though, basically start doing it and not realizing it.

Yes.

I don't really rock back and forth but I tend to sort of bounce in a chair sometimes. SOMETIMES I rock the chair back and forth, but I don't do it myself IN the chair, normally this calms me down and when I do it for some time I end up forgetting I'm doing it at all.

Wallourdes has probably given the clearest explanation to this, stimming, which I wasn't sure what it meant until I red his post
Stimming seems like a good idea to release tension, as Wallourdes said, but if you do it in public people might think you're a bit... odd... Which is never good

yep, do it, sometimes from side to side too and when im alone i nod my head also
sometimes it looks like im listening to music

Yes, I rock back and forth or side to side, when I'm seated or lying in bed. It's called stimming and it's very common among people on the autism spectrum.

I find it soothing and do it if I'm very excited or very nervous, upset or feeling bad.

My daughter is almost 4 and she does this all the time. She rocks really hard on the couch to calm herself before she goes to bed, to wake herself up in the morning and after naps, when she's excited, when she's coming down off a meltdown and when music is playing. She rocks back on forth on her hands and knees when she's in bed, often when I go to wake her up in the morning, she'll have rocked the whole bed from one side of the room to the other.

Thanks for posting this thread, nice to get some insight from AS adults

I do it when I'm really intensely involved with something but not otherwise.

It's a shame the original sound wasn't present on that Gates clip because it becomes pretty obvious he's rocking due to the extreme stress of trying to worm his way out of a mass of evidence which ultimately proved his company's dubious and unethical business practices. I don't think that in this context, it is any indication of Asperger's. Just stress. He's not a happy bunny.
(this was from his deposition involving Microsoft's predatory monopolistic activities WRT competing browsers - for which it was found guilty and heavily fined)

[edited to remove a statement which may have caused problems for WP]

Last edited by Cornflake on 02 Jan 2011, 7:59 am, edited 1 time in total.

I always rock back and forth. Some people have asked me if I'm ret*d or something because I have such a hard time sitting still.