Educational reference
About this symptom
Restlessness covers a persistent difficulty being still: fidgeting, tapping, shifting position, standing up during activities that expect sitting, or a sense of needing to be doing something.
Its outward form changes considerably with age. In children it is often visible as movement and difficulty remaining seated. In adolescents and adults it more often becomes internal — a sense of being driven, difficulty relaxing, discomfort during long meetings or journeys, or feeling most settled while occupied. Because this inner experience is invisible, adults are sometimes assumed not to have hyperactive features at all.
Movement is not always unhelpful. Many people concentrate better while moving in some small way, and suppressing it entirely can take attention that would otherwise go to the task.
Restlessness also occurs with anxiety, thyroid conditions, some medicines, caffeine and stimulant use, and as an effect of certain treatments. Restlessness that is new, or that arrives after starting a medicine, is worth raising with a health professional.