How Fidget Toys Can help Adults With Anxiety
What is fidgeting?
Fidgeting involves making small repetitive movements with your body, usually with your hands and feet. Examples of fidgeting include playing with your hair, chewing on clothing, bouncing knees or tapping feet or hands. Some fidgeting can include self-harm behaviours, such as biting fingernails, picking at skin or pulling out hair.
What causes adults to fidget?
Fidgeting often occurs when we are feeling nervous, anxious, frustrated, bored, excited, or a combination of these feelings. These emotions often arise when we are in a situation that we find boring or anxiety-provoking.
When we feel anxious, it triggers a physiological response in our body. This involves the release of the stress hormone cortisol, which can lead us to have an excess build-up of energy in our nervous system. If you have no outlet to release this energy, then you’re more likely to fidget. Likewise, feeling bored or disinterested in an activity can lead to restless, fidgety behaviour as our concentration on the task at hand is diminished.
How can Fidget Toys Help adults With Anxiety?
Fidget toys provide an outlet to release nervous tension and energy, which can help calm a person's nerves, relieve stress and serve as a distraction in an overstimulating environment. Fidget toys give you a place to channel this nervous energy. Fidgeting also creates a distraction for the brain from the boring and anxiety-provoking stimulus, which can in turn lower anxiety and improving focus. For example, someone who feels anxious about going to a dentist appointment may fidget while they are sitting in the waiting room in an attempt to distract themselves from having worrying thoughts.
What are the best fidget toys for adults?
Fidgeting is a harmless way of using up restless energy and improving focus and calm. There are a huge range of different fidget toys available, now that research has shown its valuable way of helping people deal with boredom, stress or anxiety.
Different people will have different preferences of fidget, depending on the type of sensory input they like. For example, an adult with high levels of anxiety may benefit from the comforting weight of a hand roller in their hand. In comparison, an adult sitting in a long lecture may keep themselves more alert and on task if they squeeze a stress ball while listening to the speaker.
Most affordable fidget toys for adults
The Textured Tangle Jr. $12.95
The Tangle Jr. is bright, colourful and has different textured sections to run your fingers along. Providing lots of tactile stimulation - making it so much fun to touch and explore.
The textured tangle has bumps and lumps of all kinds of different textures along its length for sensory input. It is ideal as a discreet fidget tool for school, home or the office. Small enough to fit into a pocket or pencil case. The Tangle Jr is also good for exercising hand muscles and developing hand strength.
Bendy Smiley Man Keychain: $6.95
This smiley bendy man is a fun fidget key chain for your keys or backpack and a great fidget toy. Stretch and bend this little guy into the most unusual positions- he's a great distraction for fidgety hands or to help you stay calm when feeling stressed. Excellent for special needs but suitable for the whole family.
Discreet, pocket sized fidget toys for adults:
The Kaiko Fidget Kit:
Contains five clever and uniquely designed stainless steel fidget toys, including:
- Kaiko medium fidget
- Magic ball fidget
- Small centipede fidget
- Small fidget
- Small single loop fidget.
The Kaiko Fidget range is incredibly popular for older children, teenagers and adults. They are simple in design and made from stainless steel metal parts which gives them a funky look and feel- and also means they don't break easily.
These fidgets are small & discreet so you can pop them in your pocket & take them with you anywhere! They are also quiet to use - making them ideal for the workplace, travel or the classroom.
Kaiko Spikey Finger Fidget
The amazing Kaiko Finger Spikey fidget has been an instant fidget favourite for teens and adults! It provides firm and textured sensory feedback when rolled up and down the finger. Ideally suited to those that like strong sensory input.
Best Fidget toys for the work desk.
Colour Changing Stress Ball
The colour changing stress ball is a popular fidget toy and calming tool which will help ease anxiety. Squeezing the stress ball is also a great way to work on fine motor skills and help develop hand strength. The changing colour also adds a visual sensory dimension to the play experience. The colour changing stress ball is the perfect fidget toy to have on your work desk and is totally addictive.
Kaiko Infinity Weighted Hand Roller
The hand roller is beautifully weighted and smooth. It even comes in a black zip up hard case for easy storage. Rotate it in your hand, roll it between your palms or roll to massage- it has a calming, anxiety reducing effect.
