3 things that will change your life with ADHD
The experience of living with ADHD is often different from what we see summarized in research papers. There is shame associated with the difficulties going with it, a lot of stigma from social environments—including medical professionals and daily challenges that are not reported in top journals but that still exist in everyday life.
Medication is often the first line of intervention for diagnosed patients, but there are a few issues with it.
- It doesn’t work for everyone. The efficacy of ADHD medication is high, around 70% of individuals respond well to treatment, but that means that there are still 30% of people who suffer through intense side effects, or for whom it simply doesn’t work that well.
- Many people with ADHD are still undiagnosed and do not have access to medication. In the UK, waiting times can go up to 10 years, meaning that ADHD individuals can remain without treatment during that time.
That means we need strategies and tools to help manage ADHD. Here are a few that have worked in my life and are backed by scientific findings.
- Music
Music is one of the best tools for the management of ADHD, and for some daily struggles, it requires almost no effort to set up and has many benefits.
Music can improve concentration. A study observed the reading comprehension of children with and without ADHD while they were in silence or listening to music. When in silence, children without ADHD far outmatched ADHD children, who struggled to pay attention. However, as soon as music started playing, the reading comprehension of ADHD kids increased, while non-ADHD children struggled. Music acted as a catalyst for concentration.
Studies also show that music—especially calm music—can help with emotional regulation, while other styles, like EDM or Heavy Metal, may be preferred to boost motivation.
Finally, having headphones when going out can also help filter out noises that may be overwhelming to people with ADHD, who often have sensory issues.
It is a simple, accessible, and effective tool that can change ADHD lives.
- Exercise
Although many people with ADHD struggle to stick to an exercise routine, moving one’s body may be one of the best things one can do. Even mild movement can improve blood flow to the brain, general health, and ADHD symptoms. This may be one reason why many Olympic athletes have ADHD—they naturally gravitate toward a lifestyle that soothes their difficulties.
Now, many people have difficulties with the word exercise or what it represents. It comes with sweat, routines, and effort, all things that feel difficult to do. Fortunately, though, exercise doesn’t have to mean running or lifting weights. Dance, climbing, fencing, swimming, or playing video games such as BeatSaber or Just Dance can do the trick.
Exercise doesn’t have to be painful. For people with ADHD who tend to perceive effort more intensely, and as more painful, this little sentence is important. The secret is finding something that you enjoy doing and that brings you joy. If you enjoy the process, then results will come – and it will help with ADHD.
- Self-Compassion and Accommodations
Something that many people with ADHD struggle with is shame, guilt, and stigma. An ADHD brain doesn’t function like a neurotypical one, therefore, it cannot be held to the same standards and can’t have the same routines. Yet, external expectations are ever present and can feel overwhelming, especially when we desperately try to meet them. There are many steps we can take here.
First, accept that your brain functions differently. Even with medication or therapy, you will not be “neurotypical”. That means that certain things are going to be more difficult to do or are simply not going to happen, and that’s ok. For example, ever since I started living alone, I wanted to eat vegetables, but I often seemed to leave them in my fridge until they were no longer edible. It turns out that for me, cleaning, cutting, and cooking them was too many steps. So what can we do next?
We can implement accommodations and give ourselves some grace. If we can’t muster the motivation to cut vegetables, we can buy them at the store pre-cut. They exist and are slightly more expensive, but the result is that I am going to eat veggies now instead of watching them slowly decompose in the back of my refrigerator. The long-term outcome is that my body will have all the nutrients it needs, and my ADHD symptoms will become more manageable.
These are accommodations. To better deal with ADHD, we must learn to accept that we need accommodations and to understand which accommodations we need, we need to spend 5 minutes with ourselves reflecting upon what the issue is. And before all of that, there is a fair amount of self-compassion.
Struggling to do certain tasks or chores doesn’t make you a lesser person; it just means that you may need different tools to get the same result. It takes time and some trial and error, but eventually, through the acceptance of our struggles, we get to better outcomes.
With a quote from the ADHD User’s Manual:
“There is no medal at the end of the line for who suffers the most, so make life easier for yourself.”