HealthyGamerGG - Psychiatrist Debunks ADHD Hacks

Episode Date: September 26, 2022

Dr. K talks about ADHD "Hacks" and whether they actually work or not! Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/healthygamergg/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oh, don't put it down. Put it away. Don't put it down. Put it away. So I think this is great advice for keeping your place clean. Here's the problem with that. ADHD hacks that I wish I knew sooner. Yeah, thanks for inviting me over. What do you want to do? Oh, I invited you over to be my body double for the day. What? Well, I was hoping that you kind of just sit there while I got some stuff done. So you just want me to sit here. why you do stuff, not help or anything.

No, okay, just you being here is gonna help me out a lot, but you can help yourself to anything in the fridge. Why are all your condiments in the vegetable drawer, but your vegetables are in the condiment? Like, what are you doing? Well, if the vegetables were in the drawer, then it kind of turned into like an out of sight, out of mind kind of thing, and I would never use them.

Kind of makes sense, but it also kind of feels like a sin. I'm telling you, it works for me. Hey, don't put that. down. What? Put it away. Oh, don't put it down. Put it away. Don't put it down. Put it away. Don't put it down. Put it away. ADHD hacks. All right. So this is actually really interesting. I like this for a couple of reasons. There's one. We're going to rewatch the first one, okay? And then there are a couple of really interesting principles that we're going to share, which are really good. So this is something

A lot of people don't know. PhD hacks that I wish I knew sooner. Yeah, thanks for inviting me over. What do you want to do? Oh, I invited you over to be my body double for the day. Okay. What? Well, I was hoping that you kind of just sit there while I got some stuff done.

So you just want me to sit here while you do stuff, not help or anything? No, okay, just you. All right, so let's talk about this. So this is kind of interesting. So people with ADHD, You know, so this person is basically saying, oh, like, I will be more productive if you come to my house and you sit down and you don't need to help me. But if you're around, it'll help. Okay.

So let's understand. This is actually true. Let's understand the scientific principle behind it. And furthermore, once we understand the scientific principle, like you may be thinking, okay, so having someone around will help me do my work. But like, what if I don't have someone around? How can I take advantage of this, even if I don't have someone around? So this is really important to understand. So let's understand a little bit about why this helps people with ADHD.

Okay. So let's say that this is your optimal level of functioning. Let's say that this is the level of stimulation, okay, in your environment. So what happens if you take a kid with ADHD and you put him in a empty room? What does the kid do? If a kid with ADHD is in a completely empty room with no stimulation, so you start them over there, what do they start to do? Do ADHD symptoms increase or decrease?

So this worsens ADHD. So what you'll find with a kid in an empty room is that they'll like move around, they'll fidget, they'll like whatever. And so what they're actually doing in this situation is increasing their stimulation, right? So they're self-stimulating. They start doing stuff. So if I add, let's say a couple of toys, so I give them moderate stimulation, what happens to their ADHD? Their ADHD improves.

And if I put a kid in a room full of tons and tons of toys with flashing lights and all kinds of other stuff, very high stimulation, what happens? Worsens ADHD. Okay? So if you look at a neurotypical brain, so this may be the optimal level of stimulation for people with ADHD. The key thing is that if you look at neurotypical people, what you tend to find is that the optimal level of stimulation is probably over here. It's lower than it is with ADHD. So even if you put a neurotypical person in a room with like nothing, they will also self-stimulate, explore, et cetera. But if you put them with like as many toys as the ADHD person needs, that'll be over-stimulation from them.

And what they're going to need to do is actually kind of decrease their level of stimulation. So this is why, like, you know, people with ADHD may study with music, things like that. So what does having another person do? It essentially increases the baseline level of stimulation to reach your optimal level for, like, performance and being able to do work. There are also studies that show, so there are a couple of other interesting principles here. So white noise is another good example of this, that people with ADHD who, some of them who listen to white noise, will actually be able to focus better. And it works on this same principle over here. A couple of other interesting side effects of this.

If you're trying to get people with ADHD to meditate, does anyone know one tip that you can tell someone who has ADHD if they have trouble meditating? What can you do? Anyone know? Meditate with your eyes open. So what does that do? It's kind of interesting, right? Because we tell most people to close their eyes when they meditate.

But in this case, if you actually, if you have someone with ADHD, sometimes if they meditate with their eyes open, they'll actually be able to focus better because eyes open will increase their baseline level of stimulation to the optimal level. So kind of interesting TikTok turns out it is also correct, right? But if you don't have a body double, if you don't have someone who can come over, there may be some baseline level of stimulation that you can increase like white noise or listening to music or things like that that can also work. Okay. Being here is going to help me out a lot. but you can help yourself to anything in the and I would never use them. So kind of makes sense, but it also kind of makes sense, right? Because people with ADHD will be very activated by stimuli.

So if you see the vegetables, you'll like open the thing and you'll be like, oh yeah, I have vegetables. And so it's kind of like building your environment to be suited towards your attention span. Kind of feels like a sin. I'm telling you it works for me. Hey, don't put that down. Here's where things get tricky. Put it away.

Oh, don't put it down. Put it away. Don't put it down. Put it away. So I think this is great advice for keeping your place clean. Here's the problem with that. So if we think about the brain, what is the part of our brain that allows us to put it down instead of putting it away? So let's like think about this.

Okay. What is the sequence of events from putting it down to putting it away? So the first thing that you've got to do, and I'll kind of ask you all this question. So when people with ADHD put things down, are they aware when they put things down? So the first problem is that there's a lack of awareness when you put something down, right? That's why people forget. People with ADHD don't forget. There's no problem with their memory.

Their problem is actually with their inability to attend. It never sinks in in the first place. It's not a problem with retrieval. So if this kind of makes sense, if we think about memory, something goes into our memory and then we recall it. And so what happens is when I ask myself, where are my keys? I can't recall. So I assume that I have a problem with my memory.

I have forgetfulness. It's not forgetfulness. It's that you weren't paying attention when you put them down in the first place. So there's nothing down here. This is empty, right? Because this is actually where the problem is in ADHD. So this is challenging because putting it down, putting it away instead of putting it down is a fantastic idea, love it. The challenge is that that is actually twice as hard for ADHD people as it is for neurotypical people.

Because they have a lack of attention. They don't realize they're putting it down in the first place. The second thing is even if they do realize it, you have to restrain an impulse to put it down and then use goal-directed behavior, right? I have to stop myself and then like I have to plan and execute, okay, I should like go over here and put it over there. So if you kind of think about that, these are actually all the weaknesses of a brain with ADHD. These are where we know they're, you know, functional impairments. So there's a lack of attention, right? I'm not paying attention.

There's impulsivity in ADHD. So I have to restrain an impulse, which is what people with ADHD. ADHD sometimes struggle with. And then I have to use my frontal lobe to direct myself in the right direction. So this is fantastic advice. I strongly recommend everyone try it, but recognize that it's not going to be as easy as it appears on the TikTok. And in fact, if you have ADHD, I mean, this is hard enough if you're neurotypical, but it's going to be an uphill battle if you've got ADHD. Still good. Good tip, though.