Living Well & ADHD
Managing ADHD is not “one size fits all”.
Strategies that work for you may not work for the next person. This also relates to the positive effects of medication on ADHD.
An article published in the National Library of Medicine mentions that the use of stimulant medication for ADHD is about 70% effective for adults.
What are the alternatives?
How do the other 30% of adults manage ADHD? Or, what if you don’t want to take medication? Or, maybe you need more than just medication to help manage your ADHD. While medication can help, most healthcare and ADHD professionals will tell you it’s not a cure all to all your ADHD symptoms.
Maybe you would like to find some more natural ways to increase dopamine and manage your ADHD.
Au Naturale
On a recent episode of Taking Control: The ADHD Podcast, Pete and I were joined by one of our TCA ADHD Coaches, Aviva Nirenberg. We talked about a more natural approach to managing symptoms including a proper sleep schedule, diet and nutrition, and exercise.
You may have been expecting something a little more ground-breaking than getting more sleep, but honestly, these building blocks of wellness can be essential to add to your bag of ADHD strategies.
How so?
Today I thought I would share a few facts (along with links to the sources) about these natural ways to manage ADHD.
“With regular physical activity, we can raise the baseline levels of dopamine and norepinephrine by spurring the growth of new receptors in certain brain areas.” Dr. John Ratey
“Foods rich in protein — lean beef, pork, poultry, fish, eggs, beans, nuts, soy, and low-fat dairy products — can have beneficial effects on ADHD symptoms. Protein-rich foods are used by the body to make neurotransmitters, the chemicals released by brain cells to communicate with each other.” ADDitude
Taking vitamin C (for example: orange juice or a multivitamin) with your stimulant medication will cancel out the effectiveness of the stimulant. Be sure to separate the two by at least an hour to achieve the full benefits of both. - Dr. William Dodson
“An estimated 25 to 50% of people with ADHD experience sleep problems, ranging from insomnia to secondary sleep conditions.” Sleep Foundation
“…adults with ADHD plus a sleep disorder often report more severe ADHD symptoms and a lower quality of life.” Sleep Foundation
If you do an online keyword search, you can easily find hundreds more articles and studies on the benefits of living well in relation to your ADHD.
So how does your sleep, nutrition, and physical activity measure up? If you feel like you might be lacking in one of these areas, why not choose something you could change or fix and see how it might affect your ADHD symptoms. Try keeping a journal or a daily log and see how things progress over time.
Start small. Just choose one thing and see how it works. The results might surprise you.
Thank you for your time and attention,
-Nikki
