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Hand-held toys known as "fidget spinners" - marketed as "stress relievers" - have become so popular and distracting in classrooms that they are now being banned in many schools. And it's not just kids who like to fidget. Look around your office and you will probably see people bouncing their legs up and down, turning pens over and over in their hands, chewing on things, sucking on their lower lips and pulling bits of their beard out - seemingly completely unconsciously.

But why do we fidget, and why do some people do it more than others? And if it really helps to relieve stress, does that mean we should all embrace it?

These are actually rather difficult questions to answer, as there appear to be various definitions of what fidgeting is and why it happens. However, there are some interesting, if unexpected, theories.

Regulating attention

Cognitive research suggests that fidgeting is associated with how stimulated we are. That is, fidgeting may be a self-regulation mechanism to help us boost or lower our attention levels depending on what is required - either calming or energising us.

People who fidget a lot are generally more prone to mind wandering and daydreaming. We also often tend to fidget while our mind is wandering during a task. If your mind wanders, you are likely to perform more poorly on whatever task you are doing. Similarly, you typically perform worse while you are in the process of fidgeting - this has been shown to affect memory and comprehension.

This means fidgeting may indicate a problem with attention. But it might also be the solution. Fidgeting could provide physiological stimulation to bring our attention and energy to a level that allows our minds to better focus on the task at hand.

Supporting this, one study found that people who were allowed to doodle while monitoring a phone conversation for details remembered more facts later than those who weren't. We also know that people with ADHD do better on some cognitive tasks when they are engaged in greater spontaneous bodily activity (though no such effect was seen for children without ADHD).

Weight management

The biological sciences, however, reveal a somewhat different picture. This evidence suggests that fidgeting might be a carefully programmed response that helps us unconsciously maintain our weight.

In 2000, a study published in Science, elegantly demonstrated this. The researchers overfed a group of healthy, non-obese volunteers by about 1,000 calories a day over a period of eight weeks. The participants' bodies appeared to fight back against the overfeeding with a large increase in fidgeting, posture changes and random tensing of their muscles. However, different people gained vastly different amounts of weight in response. This was strongly predicted by how much they were fidgeting - people who moved more put on less weight.

But how can such tiny movements make a difference? Well, it turns out fidgeting while sitting or standing actually increases the amount of calories you burn by 29% and 38% respectively (as compared to lying still). Consequently, it can account for anywhere from 100 to 800 calories burnt off as heat energy per day.

Given the WHO estimates that we only need to eat 100 to 200 calories more than we expend to incrementally gain weight, the small amount exerted by fidgeting could be enough to address this imbalance. So fidgeting may actually be like nature's inbuilt Fitbit alarm. Supporting this, a study following 12,000 women over 12 years found that high levels of fidgeting were associated with lower mortality in a group of women who spent a long time sitting per day.

Unfortunately, you may not be able to learn to become a squirmy person - it seems some people are just born fidgeters. There may even be a genetic component - studies show that levels of spontaneous physical activity are more similar in families and between twins.

Stress relief?

One final explanation for fidgeting is that it represents a behavioural coping mechanism for stress. These theories of fidgeting often focus on particular "self-contact" forms of behaviour - like pulling, scratching or biting of the hair or skin (called "displacement behaviours"). Whether these represent a "special class" of fidgeting, however, remains unclear.

Photosebia

In one study, scientists induced social stress in a group of men by making them perform mental arithmetic out loud while standing in front of strangers. They found that people who reported being more anxious before the study showed more displacement behaviours during the maths test. However, the men who were picking and plucking at themselves during the test reported that they found the experience less stressful overall - meaning it reduced their stress levels in the moment. Displacement behaviours were not, however, associated with being a more anxious person in general - just during stressful experiences.

Fascinatingly, this effect has only been shown to hold for men, who show twice the amount of displacement behaviours as women.

But which theory is correct? Actually, they may all be connected. Fidgeting could be a form of general, unconscious self-regulation mechanism that varies depending on what is required - regulating attention, weight or stress. Indeed, it seems that being bored may actually cause us to become unconsciously stressed. Physiological signs of stress are documented to rise significantly during periods of sustained attention (like when watching a lecture). So we may fidget to relieve that stress - rather than to reset our attention levels.

Fidgeting may (at least in part) be controlled by the brain's hypothalamus, which is known to regulate many bodily processes. Indeed, when you inject orexins (a small protein) into part of the hypothalamus in rodents, you see an increase in spontaneous bodily activity. Orexins and the hypothalamus are both linked to arousal, appetite, wakefulness and other regulation processes.

But before you go out and bulk-buy fidget fad toys, or post this article on your mum's Facebook page - with a "and you told me to stop fidgeting!" tagline - it is worth considering the social cost of the activity. Fidgeting is a strong indicator people use to evaluate others.

Fidgeters are assumed by onlookers to be bored, frustrated, hyper or not paying attention - which is not going to make you any friends. Fidgeting movements are also a distraction for others - movement is a highly salient visual cue that automatically pulls focus. So if you are going to shake those legs ... maybe keep it under the table.

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Hand-held toys known as "fidget spinners" - marketed as "stress relievers" - have become so popular and distracting in classrooms that they are now being banned in many schools. And it's not just kids who like to fidget.

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The Fidget Cube is better than the Fidget Spinner.

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Debate.org is a dynamic social community where you can voice your opinion on today's hottest issues.

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The shoddy science behind fidget spinners

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Fidget spinners may not be as groundbreaking as you think.

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Credit: LiveScience

This season's hottest toy is marketed as an antidote for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and autism - but it's also being banned in classrooms across the country.

"Fidget spinners" are small, ball-bearing devices that the user can rotate between his or her fingers. The momentum of the toy provides a pleasing sensory experience, according to user reviews, while the challenge of tossing, transferring and twirling the spinners has spawned an entire universe of instructional YouTube videos. [ How Fidget Spinners Work: It's All About the Physics]

Many spinners are marketed as aides for individuals with anxiety, autism and ADHD; Cppslee's spinner marketing patter on Amazon, for example, promises greater concentration for people with those conditions, plus an opportunity to "bring out that creative genius lying deep within you." [ Why Fidget Spinners Are So Hot (and Where to Buy Them)]

Unsurprisingly, these claims are probably overblown, scientists say.

"Using a spinner-like gadget is more likely to serve as a distraction than a benefit for individuals with ADHD," said Mark Rapport, a clinical psychologist at the University of Central Florida who has studied the benefits of movement on attention in people with ADHD.

(The so-called fidget cube - which is a plastic cube equipped with various buttons and dials for fidgeting hands - may be more classroom friendly, according to a scientist who studies intersection of human computer interaction and games, who pointed out on the website The Conversation that the cube doesn't require visual attention. "They can serve the same purpose as the spinners, but are more classroom-ready and less distracting," Katherine Isbister, professor of Computational Media at the University of California, Santa Cruz, wrote on The Conversation.)

Regardless of their usefulness in keeping kids' distracted brains focused, fidget spinners have sparked a conversation about attention spans in kids and how to help the little ones focus, experts told Live Science. For instance, though there isn't a lot of data supporting the idea that kids have less focus today than in the past, some research does suggest attention spans have decreased as multitasking has increased with the digital age, one expert said. There are various methods for bringing kids' focus back to the lesson at hand, psychologists say, including fidgeting devices, activity breaks and the simple removal of extra distractions. (The devices may also teach kids something about physics, or at least ball bearings.)

Fidget spinners emerged this spring, seemingly from out of nowhere, as a must-have gadget. Before December 2016, Google searches for the words "fidget spinner" were basically nonexistent. Now, teachers are posting about their frustrations with spinner-obsessed students on Twitter, and the toys even have their own forum on Reddit.

"I will call you 'Annoying Spinny Thing' and you will live in my desk drawer," Kansas Spanish teacher Amanda Dickey tweeted, punctuating her message with #fidgetspinner and #teacherprobs. [ How to Do Timeout: 12 Tips from Science]

Most of the controversy surrounding fidget spinners has been over schools banning them from classrooms. An elementary school principal in Evanston, Illinois, Kate Ellison, told the Chicago Tribune that the spinners have been a distraction in classrooms in her school, and that children with special needs have other, school-friendly options for fidgeting. Meanwhile, some parents of kids with special needs have hailed the toys' benefits. One blogger, a parent of an 8-year-old with autism, wrote on AutismAwareness.com that her daughter was thrilled to see her classmates wanting to fidget just like her. School-approved fidget devices mark her daughter as different, wrote Miriam Gwynne, but fidget spinners are simply cool.

"For her, the fidget spinner is not a must-have craze to be like her friends, but more a stress release from the demands placed upon her during her school day - much the same as she uses a stress ball or her twist-and-lock blocks," Gwynne wrote. "When schools decide to ban sensory and fidget toys, they risk isolating the very children they've spent years trying to include." [ 25 Scientific Tips for Raising Happy Kids]

The list of schools banning the spinners seems to be growing and now includes schools in Massachusetts, Brooklyn, New York, Florida, Chicago, Illinois, and even across the pond in Manchester, England.

At least one expert is disappointed by the bans. "These little gadgets should be called fidget tools, not toys, and they can be part of a successful strategy for managing fidgety behavior if they are introduced as a normal part of the classroom culture," said Claire Heffron, a pediatric occupational therapist in Cleveland, as reported by The Washington Post.

Even so, teachers say that most kids are using the spinners as toys, focusing on them rather than on class, according to news reports.

There's no doubt that toys that allow kids to fidget can benefit kids with autism. Occupational therapists often use sensory toys like tactile discs, Koosh balls and even putties or clays to soothe kids who have sensory-processing issues. Similarly, research has shown that movement can help kids with ADHD to focus. A 2015 study published in the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology by Rapport and his colleagues looked at 8- to 12-year-old kids with ADHD. The researchers found that those who participated in gross motor activity - meaning the movement of limbs or large parts of the body - performed better than those who sat still during tasks involving working memory, which is a type of memory used for processing incoming information. Exercise has also been proven to be helpful for kids with ADHD.

But without studies that specifically look at fidget spinners, it's impossible to say for sure whether the devices could help kids with ADHD, Rapport told Live Science. He conjectured that the little handheld toys are not likely to help much. They don't require gross body movement, he said, which is what appears to be responsible for increasing activity in the frontal and prefrontal brain areas that are responsible for sustaining attention. The spinners are also visually distracting, and so they could pull a child's attention away from the chalkboard or teacher, Rapport said.

"Riding a stationary bike while reading, or sitting on a movement ball while working at one's desk, in contrast, allows small (non-distracting) motor movements and would probably prove beneficial for many children with ADHD," Rapport wrote in an email to Live Science.

An unofficial report in June about possible lead in these toys may have parents worried, but don't clear your home of the spinners just yet. Tamara Rubin, a lead-poisoning-prevention advocate who is not affiliated with any university or research institution, home-tested 11 fidget spinners and found unusually high amounts of lead in two of these. Even so, Rubin's findings have not been replicated nor peer-reviewed; and Rubin only tested 11 spinners. You can read more about possible lead in fidget spinners in this Live Science article.

A bigger concern may be the risk of kids choking on some of the spinner's small parts. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, is looking into reports of children choking on parts that have popped out of a fidget spinner, said Patty Davis, the CPSC's acting communications director.

Here are some tips from the Toy Association for keeping your kids safe while fidget-spinning: Follow age labels; shop at reputable stories (where you'll find toys that passed U.S. testing); follow tips for light-up spinners (make sure the spinner's battery is locked in the toy); check for broken parts (which can be a choking hazard).

Editor's Note: This article was first published on May 1, and has been updated with information about school bans and kids' attention spans as well as safety concerns.

Original article on Live Science.

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Fidget Spinners: What They Are, How They Work and Why the Controversy

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This season's hottest toy is marketed as an antidote for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and autism - but it's also being banned in classrooms across the country. "Fidget spinners" are small, ball-bearing devices that the user can rotate between his or her fingers.

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ST. LOUIS (KTVI) - Fidget spinners have become quite the craze with kids in recent months. Originally designed to help kids in the classroom, questions are arising as to whether they help or hurt students. It spins, it's active, it makes motion and, when taken to school, a fidget spinner can be downright distracting.

"As a teacher, I'm starting to be over them a little bit," said Amy Rich, third grade teacher at Reed Elementary.

Rich said the fidget spinners have caused a fuss and are no longer allowed in her classroom.

"It should be a tool to help, but it's become a distraction at times in the classroom. They're focused more on the than their work."

Dr. Greg Mattingly, a psychiatrist at St. Charles Psychiatric Associates and instructor at Washington University St. Louis, said the fidgets were designed a few years ago for kids with ADHD, learning disabilities, and autism anxiety. The purpose was to help these children focus at school. However, many kids are buying and bringing the devices to school.

"I was mesmerized. These things are hypnotic. It's hard not to look at them. But I also noticed it helped my kids pay attention instead of moving around the room," Mattingly said.

Mattingly has mixed feelings on fidgets because of the craze they have created.

"I think for the right kids they can be used to help keep them in place, in their seat, and focused on their teacher and work," he said. "But they can also be horribly distracting if not used in right ways."

That's where the dilemma comes in to play for school administrators. The fidget can be both a tool to help, but also a toy for fun.

"The teachers are wondering if we should get rid of them," Rich said. "They are allowed at recess, but teachers are wondering if we should stop allowing them to be brought out."

Fidgets are selling out at many local stores and they are addictive! Kids are even having some issues following the fidget rules at school.

"I actually, by end of a day, have three or four on my desk that I had to collect from kids because they can't keep them in the right spots," Rich said.

Those fidgets can also be very distracting for teachers, according to Dr. Mattingly, who recalled a recent conversation with a teacher.

"She said, 'Doctor, I can't focus on my work because I'm watching the kid with the fidget spinner.' There is that push pull," Mattingly said.

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Fidget spinners becoming too much of a distraction in classrooms, say teachers

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ST. LOUIS (KTVI) - Fidget spinners have become quite the craze with kids in recent months. Originally designed to help kids in the classroom, questions are arising as to whether they help or hurt students. It spins, it's active, it makes motion and, when taken to school, a fidget spinner can be downright distracting.

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Fidget Toys Research Starting Points

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Amir Cohen/Reuters

You probably know what a fidget spinner is by now. If you have a child old enough to sling a yo-yo, pound a fist into some GAK or build up a collection of POGs, you definitely do. The latest fad sweeping middle schools across America is a palm-sized, three-pronged device that spins with the help of ball bearings inside. Unlike fads of the past, however, the fidget spinner was designed with a constructive purpose: to relieve stress, not to disrupt third-period social studies.
Related: Anxiety, stress and depression at all-time high among Americans
Though invented by chemical engineer Catherine Hettinger in the early '90s, fidget spinners did not become popular until recently. In December, Forbes touted them as "must-have" office toys. From there, they found their way onto Reddit, YouTube and, ultimately, into the pockets of middle-schoolers. Their rise has been meteoric. Take it from Google.

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But do they really relieve anxiety and curb ADHD, as many have claimed? Not really, according to experts.

"I know there's lots of similar toys, just like there's lots of other games and products marketed toward individuals who have ADHD, and there's basically no scientific evidence that those things work across the board," Scott Kollins, a clinical psychologist and professor at Duke University, recently told NPR.

"It's important for parents and teachers who work with kids who have ADHD to know that there are very well studied and documented treatments that work, and that they're out there, so there's not really quick and easy fixes like buying a toy," he added. "It's important that people don't get into trying these fads when we do have treatments that can help these kids."

Nevertheless, this is how they have been marketed. Pretty much every listing for a version of the toy on Amazon notes its stress-relieving properties. The Triune Spinner by Pocket Fidget, selling for $24.99, is promoted as a "Fast EDC Fidget Toy for Increased Focus, Stress Relief, ADHD, Autism, and Anxiety." The D-JOY Tri-Spinner Fidget Toy, which goes for only $3.99, is marketed as a "stress reliever" that can "reduce anxiety." Another claims to be "perfect For ADD, ADHD, Anxiety, and Autism." It also glows in the dark.

The ostensibly scientific benefits to using a fidget spinner have undoubtedly rationalized the decision of countless parents to buy the toy for their children. More than six million children in America have been diagnosed with ADHD, and if an over-active mind can be tempered for the price of a nice lunch, why not give it a whirl?

But the director of the Attention, Impulsivity and Regulation program at the UC Davis MIND Institute, Julie Schweitzer, also said there is no evidence fidget spinners can help with ADHD. "There are other ways of doing it than these toys," she recently told the Sacramento Bee. "I can't say that they for sure don't work, but there's no evidence to support that they do and it's obvious they're going to be distracting to other people."

This last point-that they are distracting to other people-has become a major problem that has almost guaranteed that they are detrimental to, rather than helpful with, a child's ability to focus. They have become pervasive in middle school classrooms, where kids use them not to hone their attention to their studies, but to distract from them. Other children using them as well only adds more distraction.

"From what I've seen, [the fidget spinner] is becoming so ubiquitous that it's overtaking the classroom and becoming a huge distraction," Schweitzer told the Bee. "To me, it's common sense. If you give somebody a toy or they could be doing classwork, what's going to be more interesting?"

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Do fidget spinners help with anxiety and ADHD? Experts are skeptical

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You probably know what a fidget spinner is by now. If you have a child old enough to sling a yo-yo, pound a fist into some GAK or build up a collection of POGs, you definitely do. The latest fad sweeping middle schools across America is a palm-sized, three-pronged device that spins with the help of ball bearings inside.

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Fidgeting is a response to anxiety or boredom. Anxious fidgeting occurs because the body has elevated levels of stress hormones, which are prepping your muscles for sudden exertion. If you don't have any tigers to run away from at that moment, all that energy has nowhere to go and jiggling your leg or biting your nails is a way to partially relieve that.

Research at the University of Hertfordshire in 2005 found that fidgeting improved performance in memory tests and this might be because it lowers the level of cortisol, a stress hormone that interferes with learning. Boredom fidgeting such as drumming your fingers or pen spinning gives your brain something to focus on. This is soothing and reduces the amount of other, less directed, fidgeting.
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# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Fidgeting is a response to anxiety or boredom. Anxious fidgeting occurs because the body has elevated levels of stress hormones, which are prepping your muscles for sudden exertion. If you don't have any tigers to run away from at that moment, all that energy has nowhere to go and jiggling your leg or biting your nails is a way to partially relieve that.