The benefits of hanging upside down

My children prefer to hang upside down on the couch all the time. They literally hang out there, watching TV, talking to each other. I prefer to talk to them every time to sit up again. But did you know that hanging upside down has sensory benefits? And that vestibular activities are an ideal way to process stimuli?

Advantages of hanging upside down

Hanging upside down can certainly be used effectively to stimulate stimulus processing, it can actually help to calm down children with stimulus processing problems . Read the benefits here.

• Regulates the nervous system
• Provides unique vestibular input
• May help calm down
• Prevents overstimulation
• Relieves back pain
• Improve spinal health and flexibility
• It is said to improve brain function

When and how often is hanging upside down effective?

Vestibular activities that involve hanging upside down are most effective when done for short periods of time throughout the day.

For example, you can take a sensory break every two hours every day where your child can look for sensory stimuli such as hanging upside down. Think of hanging upside down on the swing, on a horizontal bar, hanging on the couch, or down the slide. This only needs to take 5 minutes.

Although there are risks associated with hanging upside down for an extended period of time, children in general can hang upside down as often as they want. Your child will indicate when hanging upside down is uncomfortable and then of course you stop the vestibular activities.

Vestibular activities involving hanging upside down

There are many different ways for your child to play upside down, here are some suggestions:

• Hanging upside down on the couch
• Yoga for children
• Hanging on the monkey track (playground), swing or horizontal bar
• Younger children can be placed on your lap, facing you and while holding the hands you can let them fall back over your knees and then pull them up again. Nice to do in combination with a song like “Jan Huijgen in de Ton”
• Recline on a large exercise or gymnastics ball.
• Lifting your child upside down (works really well when your child is angry or sad, I speak from experience!)
• Handstand against the wall

Other activities that provide vestibular input

Hanging upside down is not the only thing that stimulates the vestibular system and helps it process stimuli. Other activities that can be used are:

• In young children, rhythmic rocking on the lap
• Jump on a trampoline Dance and freeze – everyone dances to the music very quickly and when the song pauses, you freeze.
• Play on swings, spinning equipment and slides
• Swimming (also a great proprioceptive activity)
• Pulling your child across the floor on a blanket (a real favorite here!)
• Take a run and plop down on a beanbag. (The Terapy Dino lends itself perfectly to this)
• Balance and move on a balance board
• Play the game Moves and sounds

But actually, any activity that has to do with moving your body is sufficient, especially moving your head. Are you wondering if your child has problems processing stimuli? Then read our Signals of disturbed stimulus processing here.

Of course I am curious which activity is your kids’ favorite!

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