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Need of movement to stay focused

Dias

Dias

Well-Known Member
I am curious to know if anybody here has this kind of need or habit:
As far as I know I am not hyperactive, although I am an active person, but for example I have difficulty reading and stay focused on it, I much rather do it and walk at the same time for example; another example is that if I am watching videos or when I watched tv (I don't watch it anymore) I am doing some kind of manual work with my hands ( like now I do a kind of bracelets and give them away after). Does anyone understands this? If I don't do this I get very easily agitated and need to do frequent brakes to move and then come back to it.
I never had problems in school, I was actually very quiet, and I like meditation though I never do it more then 10, 15 mn in a roll...I know that when I was younger I could stay in contemplation lost with my thoughts for long periods of time that is why I don't think I am hyperactive.
Can I hear your opinions?
Thanks
 
Yes, I do similar things. I can hold still and read, but it works much better if I'm also doing something with my hands. Any time I need to watch a video or listen to something for class I put it on my phone so I can walk around. If I don't move then I lose focus too easily. I hate just sitting and staring at the tv but I'll happily watch it while I make something. At school I'm also quiet and I hold still, but I've never been able to focus well on what the teacher was saying. It used to help to take notes but now they just give us powerpoint slides so there's no activity to keep me focused. Fidgeting with a paperclip can help.
 
Yes. When I am thinking about something difficult, I have to get up and walk.

In general, it's impossible for me to sit still. I will be tapping my foot or doing something with my hands.

When I was 13, my step-mother bet me that I couldn't sit perfectly still for 5 minutes. It was torture. And she won the bet.
 
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Fino said:
Yep!

Do you mean sitting still and contemplating for long periods?
Click to expand...

Sorry I was not clear:)
I guess the question is if you also need to move when you need to focus on something like reading or watching tv or if you can do it for hours without moving out of the sofa for example.

A few years ago I had the habit of going for a walk always at the same time and through the same place and every time I would meet an older man also walking the same path but on opposite direction and he was always walking slowly and reading something.
It was weird the first time I saw him but then it became familiar and he seemed always at peace and fully concentrated on his reading. I always wondered what he was reading but never asked.
 
I can't just sit and watch tv. I've had people get irritated at me because they'd want me to watch this movie and I would try. Typically I used to would sit on the couch with pen and notebook in my hand, but if a friend came over with a movie I thought it'd be rude to be doing something else so I'd try to just sit and watch and just couldn't - my mind was anywhere BUT the movie. But if I'm crocheting, or working jigsaw puzzles or on the computer, or doing anything, I can keep up with what's going on. I think it's more a listening thing - I could never follow teachers lectures and wasn't allowed to be doing things in class, so anything they said was useless to me.
 
I can't read books unless they are of an instructive or technological nature. Story books just don't have any interest for me. I don't watch TV and only put on movies for background noise. I did poorly in high school except higher math because the curriculum was just a review of what I learned in Jr. high.
 
I prefer to be on the move.

Or at least, a part of me has to move if the majority of me is required to stay still.

(Can’t meditate)
 
Now I get it! :)

I don't have to move but I can't do it for hours! I can remain still and be focused about twenty minutes! :cool:

I took the 12-minute IQ thing that Crossbreed posted at some point, and I was extremely focused for about 9 minutes then 3 minutes of constantly checking the time.

I guess it drops from 20 when it's something difficult! :eek:
 
I'm constantly fidgeting and/or moving - I'm a rocker in more than one sense of the word, and even use a rocking chair for work. It does help me concentrate, and if for some reason I'm not free to move about, like on an aeroplane, I get very restless and fidgety.

During uni lectures, I used to sit and draw charactures of the lecturer :)
 
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I am glad that I am not the only one:)
I also prefer movement but for example if I am in a public lecture or something like that I force myself to be quiet because I don't want to be disrespectful or give the impression that I am bored because it would desmotivate the speaker. I always think about these details. So I try to find strategies like taking notes or pretend I am taking notes:)
 
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