The Liz Moody Podcast - Ranking ADHD Advice For Women From Social Media (with Therapist Jenna Free)

Episode Date: June 22, 2026

 The ADHD advice that we see on social media is often not the advice that's going to help us the most. In fact, it's often the stuff that goes viral that can cause us more frustration when we try it and it doesn't work. So today, ADHD Therapist, Jenna Free, joins me to rank ADHD advice from the internet (from superior advice to advice you should ignore). After getting diagnosed with ADHD at age 32, Jenna developed a revolutionary approach to ADHD that has helped her and thousands of women. 🎧 What you’ll learn: • The hidden reason so many people relate to ADHD symptoms • Why popular productivity hacks like gamification and multitasking often backfire • Why making lists and hunting for the perfect system can keep you stuck (& what to do instead) • What "boredom" is telling you  Check out our NEW YouTube Channel with tons of YouTube exclusive Shorts, exclusive podcast content, and full video episodes: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@LizMoodyTV⁠  Check out the previous episode with Jenna Free, “Top Therapist: Your ADHD Tools Won't Work Until You Treat THIS Hidden Cause”: • Listen/watch on Spotify • Listen on Apple Check out our other expert ADHD episode, “How To Know If You Have ADHD + Exactly What To Do If You Do With Dr. Sasha Hamdani” • Listen on Spotify • Listen on Apple Check out the previous ranking advice episodes of The Liz Moody Podcast by searching the titles below: • Ranking Skincare Advice From Social Media (with Dr. Sam Ellis) • Ranking Fitness Advice From Social Media (with Harley Pasternak) • Ranking Gut Health Advice From Social Media (with Dr. Karan Rajan) • Therapy Advice: Ranking Best & Worst From Social Media (with Lori Gottlieb) • Money Advice: Ranking Best & Worst From Social Media (with HerFirst100K) • Healthy Eating Advice: Ranking Best & Worst From Social Media (with Nutrition By Kylie) For more from Jenna Free: • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adhdwithjennafree  • Website: https://www.adhdwithjennafree.com/  • The Simple Guide to ADHD Regulation Book: https://amzn.to/4vtTh4p  Ready to uplevel every part of your life? Order Liz’s book 100 Ways to Change Your Life: The Science of Leveling Up Health, Happiness, Relationships & Success now!  Connect with Liz on Instagram @lizmoody or online at www.lizmoody.com. Subscribe to the substack by visiting https://lizmoody.substack.com/welcome.Buy our cute sweatshirts, conversation cards, and more at https://shop.lizmoody.com/. Use our discount codes from our  highly vetted and tested brand partners by visiting https://www.lizmoody.com/codes.  To join The Liz Moody Podcast Club Facebook group, go to www.facebook.com/groups/thelizmoodypodcast. This episode is brought to you completely free thanks to the following podcast sponsors: • Timeline: visit Timeline.com/Liz to save up to 39% off. • LMNT: head to DrinkLMNT.com/Liz to get a FREE 8-count sample pack with any order. • IQ Bar: text LIZ to 64000 for 20% off.  The Liz Moody Podcast cover art by Zack. The Liz Moody Podcast music by Alex Ruimy. This podcast and website represents the opinions of Liz Moody and her guests to the show. The content here should not be taken as medical advice. The content here is for information purposes only, and because each person is so unique, please consult your healthcare professional for any medical questions. The Liz Moody Podcast Episode 441. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you are on the ADHD side of the internet, you've probably seen and maybe even saved a million different hacks, the five-minute timer, the gamified to-do list. Some posts say caffeine is a godsend for ADHD and other posts say that it's terrible for it. Some people say you should do your hardest thing first, while others say easy wins are key. Here on the Liz's Middy podcast, we are always trying to clear up confusion and cut through all of the internet BS so that you can feel as good as possible every single day. So today, we are ranking ADHD advice from the internet. I know some of you have said that you're confused about the ranking system. So here's the deal. S is at the top. That is superior tier. I do not know why that is, but that is the way that the ranking system works on the

internet. So we've got S and then after that it's like school. So A is the next best, then B, C, D, E, and F tier, which is the lowest tier. F tier is the advice that you definitely do not want to follow. Today I'm joined by Jenna Freed, a therapist who, after getting diagnosed with ADHD at age 32, shifted her work to focus on ADHD. She has a pretty revolutionary approach to ADHD, which is that a lot of the symptoms that we feel are rooted in dysregulation, which is why it's so easy to scroll and feel like you are checking a lot of the boxes that you see online, whether or not you have an actual ADHD diagnosis. A lot of us are dysregulated, ADHD or not, which is why Jenna's approach is so helpful to so many of us. Comment any of your thoughts on our ranking? Did we get it right? Did we get it wrong?

Would you rank differently? And then also tell me what topic you want us to rank next. We are very, very open to suggestions over here. All right, Jennifer Reed, welcome to the show. Welcome to the Liz Moody podcast where we believe that there is always something that you can do to create a life that feels amazing. and we help you figure out how to find the lever to pull at any moment to actually do that. I want to start with a post from the neurofit girl. This was on Instagram and it was just like a six second post,

so I'm not going to make you watch it. But she made a list of 10 ADHD habits that skyrocket dopamine. And the list is like move your body, eat protein, get sunlight in your eyes, start with a stupid easy task, tie your shoes, use music intentionally, lift heavy things, cold water exposure, move at night instead of scrolls, And I'm just like, aren't these generally healthy things that we should all be doing? Are these specific to people with ADHD? Those are definitely things everyone can be doing and those will be regulating tasks.

So that's why it helps so much with ADHD. Okay. So the idea is that maybe if you're like, these do make me feel better, that's because you were dysregulated whether you had ADHD or not. Absolutely. And thus they are regulating you. Yes. Okay.

We did an entire other episode about regulation. So if you want to get into the difference between ADHD and regulation and how they intermingle with each other, definitely go listen to that. But I do think that is a big confusion that people have, which is like how do I know if I have ADHD, how do I know what ADHD is? And why do all of these things that are purported to help with ADHD feel like they would help me? How would you explain sort of those, that relationship?

Well, we're all human beings and probably a lot of us are dysregulated. So that will really help for any human being who is in that fight or flight state. You're stuck in survival mode so it can help us all. For the sake of people's understanding in this video, what would you say ADHD is and how would we know if we have it? ADHD is a brain difference. But because we are different, we're typically going to be in fight or flight, which is what makes the symptoms so big and so difficult.

So a lot of people might relate to ADHD symptoms, but what they're actually relating to is dysregulated symptoms. and anyone can be dysregulated. And what would those symptoms maybe be? It could be getting stuck in the frantic crash cycle, so I'm either on or I'm off and I can't do anything. It might be I rush a lot. It might be I get stuck.

So it's kind of those extremes in our behavior that we might notice. So for all of these tactics, it might be helpful because it's helping ADHD and it might be helpful because it's just helping us regulate. Yeah, absolutely. All right. This is Heal with Fifi. She has a tip for getting out of bed in the first.

morning. Here is the ADHD hack that pulled me out of the deepest depression I have ever been in in my entire life. Okay. Are you ready for it? I want you to only think of the tiniest, babyest task that you can do immediately after waking, preferably something you can do in 30 seconds to a minute. For me, this is putting my workout clothes on. So I set out everything the night before to my socks to my shoes to my underwear. So I can make this genuinely a task I can do in 30 seconds. No decision fatigue. I'm actually not thinking about going to the gym. I'm not thinking about my inbox with a thousand unanswered emails. I'm not thinking about the to-do list with a thousand things on it. The only thing I'm focused on is putting the gym clothes on. So she also has on screen.

Sometimes I'll repeat in my head, gym clothes. That's all you have to do. Just get the gym clothes on. How do you rank this? I give that an a. because that's all about regulation, being present, trying to get out of that overwhelm, and that's really going to help. And why is that going to help? Because when we are an overwhelm, that triggers that fight or flight state. So it's going to put us into freeze and go into that all or nothing thinking where we go, oh, there's so much I have to get up and do.

So I'm not going to do any of it. So you're basically narrowing like the all or nothing to one or nothing, essentially. You're saying, I only have to do this one thing. Yes, and just helps you be more present. and that's what regulation is all about. And that helps a lot with the ADHD symptoms. Can I just be present in this moment and do the one next step instead of conceptualizing all the million things I want to do today? Do you find that getting out of bed in the morning is something that people who are dealing with dysregulation or ADHD often struggle with?

Absolutely. What is your best advice for helping people get out of bed in the morning? It would be really what Fifi just said, which is, can I be present in the moment? What's the one next step? And so I would say even get your feet on the floor. Like it could be that small because often why we're not getting up is, oh my gosh, I'm thinking about the whole day ahead. I have that meeting at three.

That's going to be really hard and stressful. We get so overwhelmed that it pushes us into that freeze response. And then is that a chain? So like I put my feet on the floor and then what's the next step? Then I put my gym clothes on. What's the next step? Then I do the workout, et cetera. But you're not letting yourself think two steps ahead at any moment.

Okay. Dr. Melissa Shepard says that we should have a place for our random. thoughts. Random ADHD life hack that is probably obvious to everybody except for the people who need it. Like me. If you need to stay focused on a task for an extended period of time, put a blank piece of paper next to you. Notebook, Post-it note, whatever, it doesn't matter. That way, whenever you have one of those thoughts pop up when you're trying to focus, you know the thoughts that are like, this is urgent, you definitely have to do something about this now or you're going to forget or this is exciting. You don't want to forget this great idea. So you got to do you. You

something about it. No, no, you don't. You just write it down. And that way, you have it for later. May seem simple, but it has probably saved me many a time from a Wikipedia deep dive or some other distraction that didn't need to happen in the first place. How do we rank having a piece of paper open next to us to like write down all of our random thoughts on? I'm going to give that one a B. I do like the idea of not jumping up and being swung around by our urgent thoughts because that is going to fuel our regulation, which makes ADHD worse. And then if we respond to those urgent thoughts, next time we're going to respond even more to them. It's hard to undo that. So just to not get up is really good. But I would add a second piece, which is, can we also challenge what we write down? Because we can get

stuck in this fear-based thinking where I can't forget anything. But a lot of those thoughts maybe are safe to forget. It's safe to let them go. And we want to practice a little bit of flexible thinking with that. How do we know which thoughts are safe to let go and which which ones we are going to want to hang on to. It might take time to figure out what works for you or what's relevant for you. But for me, like, I used to have notes of, like, movies I wanted to watch, actors I wanted to look up, like stuff where I'm like, if I never see that movie, I'll be fine. It's safe to let that go.

If it comes back up in my world, cool. If not, I'm okay. Even ideas, especially at each year's, we are creative. We have so many ideas. If you write down every idea you ever have, they're going to be so overwhelming. and you're going to have so many that you're not going to use any of them. I feel like, though, I have so many ideas. I mean, I have so many ideas, period.

Every time I talk to you, I'm just like, I have everything you're talking about. I have so many ideas, but then I'll tell myself, like, surely, this is a brilliant idea. You'll remember it later. And then I lose it. I don't remember. And then I get so frustrated and sad. Yes. So write down if you want to write it down.

But you also want to note, okay, do I have thousand things written down? Do I ever go back and actually execute it? If not, maybe I'm safe to just let them go. I will say I have some ideas in my notes app. I have like one idea for a kids book that I've had in there for like three years, but just one. So it's like, okay, this is something I actually might go back and utilize. If I had a thousand, it's not happening. And do ADHD years gravitate towards like making all these little lists and making all

these little notes because we're trying to bring some sort of like structural organization to our brain or like why are we trying to do all this all the time? Yes, we're trying to sue that dysregulation. So I'm feeling unsafe. My nervous system is in this. state where it's in a panic all the time. And that makes me feel better. So 80s might find that they rewrite lists and rewrite lists and then go, I'm going to rewrite it again. That is a soothing mechanism. It's not logical. So this idea of writing down all your thoughts is great in an

interruption to not jump up and do stuff to rewire your system in that way. But then we also want to challenge like, oh, do I feel desperate that I can't ever forget anything ever? I love when you talk about like writing lists is almost like soothing ourselves versus taking action and that sometimes we really just want to have a bias towards taking the action instead of writing the list as like a soothing mechanism. Totally. Can you talk about that a little bit? Yes.

It's similar to hoarding. So we can have physical hoarding where you want stuff. Oh my gosh. I might not be okay without this. I better keep it just in case, just in case we can have that with thoughts. I better keep every idea I've ever had just in case or we might have that with planning. oh, I better make this day the calendar as efficient as possible. What if I forget something?

But all of that is just reinforcing this idea that I'm unsafe and I need all of this to be okay, which further dysregulates the nervous system, which makes ADHD symptoms worse. Yeah, it's this idea that there is like a perfect system, a perfect plan, a perfect calendar. And you're almost saying like there isn't a perfect version of that. So by you waiting to find it until you take action, you're just delaying action forever. Totally. Even my clients will say, well, should I do time blocking? I'm like, I don't care.

So irrelevant. It does not matter how you do it is, am I regulated enough to know, hey, once I write the list, now it's time to start doing the things. Or am I stuck in this kind of perpetual organization of my ideas and like keeping it all really close? And if somebody wanted to take one step to being more regulated so that they got out of that stuck cycle, what would you say that they should do? It would really to be to start challenging the behavior. or challenging the thing that you're doing to soothe. So if you're writing down every single

thought you have when you're working, try to let some of them go. That's a start. Go, oh, that's, a cool idea. And if you know, okay, that's, I'm not going to be doing that this week. It's not for the project. It's a pie in the sky idea. Maybe I'm safe. Just let that one go. You start to get evidence of like, oh, I'm okay. I've let some stuff go. I forgot some stuff and I'm still safe. I love that. Okay. This is something that I see a lot online. This is from super-skirts. Gills, ADHD on Instagram. Pretend you're in a movie scene. Pick a dramatic soundtrack, action, sci-fi, anime, anything intense.

Now hit play and start your task. Your brain gets a dopamine rush. Suddenly everything feels epic. Gameify the task. Give the task a fake mission name, Operation Dish Wars. I've seen a lot of advice to gamify tasks. How would we rank that? I'm going to give that a C just because that can get a little bit disregulating.

I would go the other way. I think you could still put music on. on, but we want more feel of a like, do, do do do. So I really like, when I'm cleaning or something, I put on like coffee shop music or like indie chill tunes because I want this like cadence of, I'm moving forward, but I'm not in a panic. And I think that can actually sustain us a lot longer and you're not hijacking that nervous system to like, okay, I need to be amped up to do anything.

Because once you're amped up, you will crash. It's inevitable. I had Dr. Ethan Cross on the podcast. and he talked about how he thinks that music is one of the best tools that we are not using in an intentional, regular way to change the way that we feel moment to moment. So, like, there's so much research that, like, if you want to hype yourself up, music can do that. You see political rallies do this all the time. If you want to feel sooth or calm, music can do that. But I listen to it because I'm like, oh, I want to play the new Hillary Duff album.

I'm not intentionally saying I have a podcast. I should listen to this music. I am cleaning. This music will make me feel the way I want to feel. relaxing at the end of the day. And I do think it's interesting to use music as a tool. Yeah, I love that. Just observe like, oh, how much am I hyping myself up and what are the effects of that? What is the outcome of that? I don't ever see it play out very well. I've seen different iterations of gamifying your tasks in ADHD land online a lot.

What do you think of this gamification idea outside of music generally? Gamifying to me in my heart of parts as an ADHD and someone who was really dysregulated for a very long time and struggling and trying to figure out how to do stuff. It always felt like, do I really need to play games to, like, wash the dishes? It just didn't feel congruent with, like, who I knew myself to be. So this is kind of where more the regulation work came in of what is another way I can get myself to be in action, do the things I want to do without having to play tricks on myself all the time.

So it can be a great Band-Aid approach. And sometimes we need Band-Aids. I've got to get through the day, but it is not a good long-term approach. I don't think. What's a specific alternative? I'm sitting on the couch. The dishes are in the sink. I want to go wash the dishes. I don't want to put on this music and feel like I'm in an epic movie. What am I doing specifically instead? Taking a more regulated approach of can I get out of panic mode? Am I really tense? Am I feeling in freeze? Am I mentally freaking out if so? Can I calm everything down? How could I move myself forward in that gentler way to have more sustainable momentum instead of this feeling of like

I'm running down a hill or I'm stuck in quicksand. What's the in between? And that is not necessarily the same jolt as like, let's hype it up and get myself going. But it will help much more long term. The other thing that I love that you talk about is that the to do list never ends. So it's not like you're going to finish the dishes and then you're done and you're free forever. It's like the freedom comes when you recognize that the dishes are not the be all and all in your life. Yes. And it's a part of life. It's like, oh, can I put the nice music on, put the nice lamp on, take off the overhead lights and like, see, oh, how could I enjoy the process of doing dishes a little bit more instead of rushing to try to get it over with? That's going to have a really different feel to chores. They're going to be less taxing, less frustrating and feel a lot better. Have you seen the dark showers trend?

No. where you like turn your lights off and put like candlelight on and shower. A lot of people say when you have ADHD, your senses are often really overwhelmed. And then if you can kind of bring the sensory temperature down, you will feel better. Are you into that as an idea? Yeah, absolutely. Okay. So would we give a dark shower an S tier or A tier?

I give that nade. This is from Dr. Stephen Storage on Instagram. If you've got ADHD like me, here's the number one brain hack I use every single day and it only takes five minutes. Whether you're a kid with homework, a college student with an essay or an adult staring at a pile of dishes, the hardest part isn't doing the task, it's starting it. That's because ADHD brains have less dopamine activity in the prefrontal cortex, the part that powers task initiation and focus. So even simple things feel overwhelming. So here's the hack. Tell yourself you only have to do the task for five minutes.

Set a timer, no pressure to finish, just start. Here's why it works. It tricks your brain out of paralysis. Once you get moving, dopamine levels rise, momentum builds, and most of the time you keep going. And even if you stop, five minutes is still progress. I do this literally every day and it is a game changer for ADHD at every age. Try it. Love the music.

That's very cute. How do we rank setting a timer for five minutes? I'll give that an A just because, again, it's tapping into regulation. Slow and steady. I'm just present with the one next thing. I'm not getting lost in that dysregulation and that overwhelm of everything that's freezing me up. It's relaxing the system, letting me kind of get back into movement and not in this, all this cramped up state. So I think it's great.

And there's a lot we can do under the surface to have that be more of a natural way of being where I'm present in the moment and I'm able to start without needing the timer. But I think that's a great way to like initiate that idea. I see a lot of people online saying to use timers if you have ADHD. as a way to start tasks versus like time the task. So like set a timer when you want to start cleaning or start a project. What do you think of that? I don't love a timer in like the scheme of things. My nervous system has a definitive reaction to the alarm clock on my iPhone.

Like every noise that it makes, I'm just like, oh my God. My body tenses up. But a lot of people find that helpful. Yeah. If it helps people, it helps people. I'm not here to say anything is bad or wrong. We should want to observe. Is this actually helping?

Is this becoming a crutch? Because I do think there's a sweet spot. of tools helping and then I'm reliant on them. Like now I can never start anything unless I set a five minute timer. That's a bit of a pickle. We can get stuck in. I do think this is a really interesting different thing about your approach to ADHD is that you don't need all of these different like tools and tactics.

If you heal the underlying things at the root of it, then you can just go through your life in a more regulated way and you will behave differently day to day, even if you still have ADHD. Absolutely. This is from Olivia LutFala on Instagram. It's just a video of her. There's text on screen where it says, you didn't do anything today. And then the response is, hey, so in case you didn't know, ADHD, a disability can be disabling.

How helpful do you think it is to think of ADHD as a disability? I get that it can be disabling, but I don't think it's a disability. So we can be disabled by the dysregulation that comes with having an ADHD brain. And I've been there. I get it. It's real. Like I was stuck on the couch. I was struggling.

I was drowning. I was just keeping my head above water. So I get the realness of that. However, I have seen how much we can change that through regulation work. So I don't see it as a disability, the brain difference itself. But we can absolutely be stuck and be really struggling at times with it. How helpful do you think it is to think of it, as disabling in these moments, do you think that that's...

I'd give that an F. Okay. Because I think why people think that's good is it gives me permission to be compassionate to myself. You don't need to think of it as a disability to be compassionate to yourself. Because I think what that does is going, this is how hard it has to be. This is how hard it's going to be. This is just how it is. So I just have to cope. But we can hold both. You can be compassionate to yourself, understanding of where you are, while also working towards making it better. And can you make it better?

Absolutely. I have worked with over a thousand ADHD years. I've done this work with myself. When we get out of fight or flight, the ADHD symptoms can actually go way down. So if we know that's possible and we know we can work on it, we are going to get a lot of improvement,

but we can have compassion for ourselves in the meantime. Does that mean, though, that it's my fault? Like, if my partner is like, why didn't you get anything done today, why do all the stuff you said you're going to do? And it's like, well, because of my ADHD. And they're like, well, yeah, but you could have been working on your ADHD and thus not had this impact?

Like where does responsibility come into the mix? Yeah, absolutely. Responsibility can only come in when we have awareness. So, for example, I do regulation work for ADHDers. If you were not aware of your dysregulation, how could you have ever done anything about it? But when we start to realize, oh, I think I'm in fight or flight and there is things I can do to make that better, then you have a choice to work on it. But that does come with the awareness. first. Many of us were diagnosed with ADHD later. I was diagnosed at 32. How could I've done anything

with that if I didn't even know I had it? Right. So I have no responsibility to something I'm not aware of. And once we are aware of it, now we go, oh, there's a choice to make. Do you ever feel like you're kind of at the whims of your ADHD? Or do you feel like you always have a way of handling it? I really feel like very solid. So I feel like my feet are on the ground. And I have symptoms. I have things where I'm like, oh yeah, I could see how that's an ADHD brain. And it's because I'm more regulated, I'm just able to solve the problems that have panic about it. So, for example, I have a really intricate calendar system to keep myself in order because I can forget stuff really easily. But that's fine.

I don't. It works. What would you say to the person who is saying to themselves, you didn't do anything today? Instead of the thought, ADHD, a disability, can be disabling. and what would you replace that thought with? I am dysregulated and I can see what happened there. So fight, flight freeze fond, that is not our fault. Being in fighter flight, being disregulated is not a choice anyone made.

It is biological response. But again, once you're aware of it, now it is the conscious mind's job to help it along and do something to change that. But it has absolutely not a choice anyone's making. And what would be the next step once you're like you didn't do anything to day. We do want to be aware and look a little bit under the hood of, but why is that? Was I overwhelmed? Did I feel like I was in paralysis? Was I physically stuck like a deer in the headlights? What was that about? That's not what I wanted to do. So what happened? And it's going to be something subconscious or our beliefs or our thoughts or a nervous system as literally like a deer in the headlights.

So primal. And so that's a really good first step is to use that mindset of curiosity and reflect on what was that about as opposed to, I'm so horrible. Tomorrow was going to be 100 times better. We always do that later thing. Yeah, that's like the all or nothing, right? Where you're like, today's trash. Tomorrow is going to be great. Would you recommend in the name of not doing that all or nothing thing, like taking a small

positive action today to wire into your brain? Like, all is not lost because at 7 p.m. and I haven't accomplished anything. I love that. And so we can also observe that all or nothing thinking is part of dysregulation. So it might be, oh, I see. It's 3 p.m. And because I haven't gotten anything done, I'm like, oh, well, this day is.

are right off. Oh, wait, it's 3 p.m. I'm going to go and at least answer that one email. That would be a great pivot, whereas maybe normally you would go, ugh, days ruined. I'm going to go lay down and scroll the rest of the night. That would be a really good pivot to start training your system of like, hey, at any time we can take a step in the direction we want to go. Do you think of ADHD as a superpower, a disability, or something else entirely? I just think of it as a brain difference. And that's going to come with pros and cons. So being different is I do. think there's some pros. I think we're very good at making connections that other people don't make. I think we're funny as hell. I talk to ADHD people all day and they are just a riot.

It also comes to some downsides. My memory is really difficult. Short-term memory, I find very challenging. Attention to detail, very challenging. So pros and cons, but it's neutral in the end. It's just different. This is from Where's Walda on Reddit who recommends multitasking. She says, I work better when I'm multitasking, probably because my brain forgets how boring something is. So my mornings look like a whirlwind, but everything gets done. For some reason, if I only do one thing at a time, I just sit there thinking about how much I hate doing dishes or how I need to buy my daughter more clothes in the next size or whatever, and then I get distracted and forget things. But if I speed run it all, it's so much easier. Give that one enough. That is very dysregulating. I understand that morning. Maybe it seems like, oh, but look,

this worked. But then how are things later that day? Do you have a crash from that? What is the repercussions? Because you're not multitasking. You're just rushing. So you can only do one thing at a time. We are human beings with one body, one brain. You cannot multitask. It's physically impossible. We can be honest with ourselves. Oh, I'm rushing. I'm rushing and running around to get everything done. But then what happens? Because we want to connect the dots. Sometimes we go, well, the crash is inevitable. So I better get as much done as I can this morning while I have the energy. That morning is what caused the crash. What if I get bored when I do one thing at a time, though? Oh, yes, bored. I want people to think, what does it mean bored? Can you reflect on it? What does it feel like for you? It feels itchy.

Okay. It's like I want to reach for something or fill some sort of itch in my brain. Cool. So we can think of that as like nervous system dysregulation, right? That itchy, like crawly. Yeah. My nervous system is actually like starting to freak out. So what I see boredom as, some things are boring.

I'm not saying that doesn't exist. But when we talk about it so much is my inner world is thinking it's getting chased by a bear. And this task requires wash a dish. It's like a calm task, but my inside is in crisis mode. That's super uncomfortable. So when we get that system to be more like, oh, it's actually safe to just be washing this dish. I can just be present with the task. We may find that ability to do things that are more calm comes a lot easier.

Words can be a bit of a band-aid, like, oh, I'm bored. And we don't question it. We don't look under the hood. We don't go, well, what does that mean? What does that feel like? Well, what's really happening there? So one would be that awareness of, well, when I say bored, what am I really saying? Oh, I'm like crawling out of my skin.

That right there shows nervous system. Okay. And so then let's say I have the awareness. Do I give in to the boredom or do I sit in the discomfort? I would try to soften the discomfort. Oh, it feels so itchy. Could I take a deep breath? could I slow down? I can feel this sometimes in my body really strongly. I was at an appointment

to get blood drawn and it was taking forever. So I was like, oh my gosh, just crawling out of my skin. I went, oh, look at that. And why is because I was thinking, this is taking too long. It should be faster. I don't have time for this. So in the chair, it took a deep breath. It was like all that itchiness and jitteriness just slowed down. And yeah, it came back, but it's like just observing, wow, how much control do I have over the feeling inside my body? Interesting. When you're, like, waiting at an appointment, do you just sit there? I'm a big fan of bringing books everywhere. Okay. I try not to scroll, but if you have a book in your bag along with your phone, you're much more likely to read sometimes than just scroll all

the time. And do you think that scrolling is making ADHD or dysregulation worse? Deregulation worse, yes. A hundred percent of time, basically. Why? It's so fast-paced, especially if you're on 2X. Those people watch you TikTok. Or you're scrolling the comments while you're watching the video. Again, is that because I feel bored, which is my district. We're reinforcing that, right? It's like, oh, I'm in a rush and I need the stimulation.

But the more we do it, the more we need it. So it really is a cycle that fuels itself. So I've found now that I've really prioritized not scrolling this year, that was like one of my resolutions. No scrolling, like actively for any long periods of time and more reading. It's just simply the effort. of I have a book with me consistently. One question I have is how much should we be trying to replace the entertainment? Like if I'm in line in the grocery store, would you be pulling out a book then?

No. Okay. So in these little short moments, you just stand there? Yes. Or to look around. It's really interesting. Once you start getting more regulated, you're just more present even on the Uber ride here. I'm just like looking out the window.

He didn't even have music on. It was just silent in the car. And you don't feel antsy in those moments? You're just like, this is. What else am I going to do? In the car, there's nothing like. scroll. Most people with scroll in the car. Yeah, I've really tried to make a point of not being someone who scrolls. And the only thing that's ever helped me really do a good job of that is seeing myself

as someone who doesn't scroll. It's like had to be identity level. This idea of like, oh, I'm going to have the apps to block it. That never stopped me. The only thing in this year I've had the most luck, the most success that I've ever had with trying to scroll less. And I really had to like see myself. It's like, I don't do that. What does that look like in practice? So you're reaching for your phone and you're like, I'm not a person who scrolled. Yeah, it's almost like I'd see myself scrolling and like, ugh, giving myself the ick. I don't want to be like that.

And so I get my book out. And it's uncomfortable at first. But now I'm really more used to reading. It just feels so nice. And then it fuels you in the other direction. When you think about strength and resilience, like your ability to feel energized, to recover well, to stay strong as you get older, what do you think that actually comes from? Most people say working out or good nutrition.

and yes, of course that matters. But there is a biological foundation underneath all of that that most people are completely overlooking. I have been diving deep into this lately with the team at timeline and what I've learned has genuinely shifted how I think about my own health. Every single movement that your body makes, every step, every workout, every muscle contraction depends on energy produced at the cellular level.

And at the center of that is your mitochondria. Here is the thing that nobody tells you, certainly nobody told me, starting around age 30, our mitochondria naturally become less efficient. More get damaged, more become sluggish, and over time that impacts your energy, your strength, your recovery, and your resilience. Most of us respond by pushing more. We're like noticing these things, and we're adding in more protein. We're trying to fix it with more supplements. We're trying to do harder workouts. And those things do help. But timelines research suggests that we also need to be supporting the cellular machinery underneath.

And that is exactly what their supplement, Mitopure does. It contains Erolithin A, which helps your body clear out damage mitochondria and support healthier ones so that your cells can produce energy more efficiently. Because this is happening to your cells, it's going to impact your entire body, your immune system, your muscles.

One study found that taking mitopure increased muscle strength by 12% in four months with no change in exercise routine, it's going to impact your energy, your sleep, your skin, your cell health impacts all of this, and urolithin A keeps your cells healthy. Timeline has done over 15 years of research and testing on this one product, urolithin A, which, by the way, most of us lack the gut bacteria to synthesize naturally. That's why many of us need to supplement it to get the benefits. This has become a staple supplement for me.

It is my top way to support how I want to look and feel as I age. Timeline's clinically proven formula is now available at a new lower price, and the gummy, are so delicious. That's what I take is my after lunch dessert and I look forward to it every single day. Save up to 39% by going to timeline.com slash Liz. That is timeline.com slash Liz. I've been drinking element every single day for literally years. I usually use one packet a day, but I break it up and I kind of spike my water throughout the day. So it makes my water taste amazing and it helps me stay consistently hydrated, which for me means more energy, fewer headaches and way clearer thinking.

That's like probably the biggest difference I notice is my brain just works so much better. Research actually shows that you hydrate better when you sip throughout the day instead of chugging all at once. An element makes that so much easier because plain water is honestly so boring and I just will not drink enough of it otherwise. I even use a glass straw because research also shows that you will drink more water if you drink it through a straw. Right now I'm obsessed with the lemonade salt flavor.

It's my favorite hands down. Zach and I fight over who gets the last packets that we have left. Although I also love watermelon, but like lemonade, oh, it's so good. I also love muddling a few raspberries in a glass, and then I'll add the lemonade element, and then I'll sip it all afternoon, or I'll use it as like a fun little moktail. Element is a zero-sugar electrolyte drink mix with no fillers, no dodgy ingredients, and it delivers a powerful dose of sodium, potassium, and magnesium to support real hydration. Electrolite imbalance can cause headaches, fatigue, cramps, and brain fog, things that so

many of us deal with daily. You can get a free eight-count sample pack with any order at drink element.com slash Liz. It is totally risk-free. If you do not love it, they offer no questions-asked refunds. You truly have nothing to lose. Go to drinklm-n-t.com slash Liz. This episode is brought to you by IQ Bar, our exclusive snack sponsor. One of the easiest micro-habits to change your diet is to stop giving yourself the unhealthy option, the option you don't want to reach for in the first place. Because on days when I'm running around nonstop, I am not thoughtfully planning snacks. I am grabbing whatever's quickest. And that usually means something that is loaded with sugar and additives. It's not going to make me feel good because that's just like what you can buy when

you're out these days. So the key is to plan ahead. And I do that by keeping IQ bars in my car and in my bag. So no matter how busy the day gets, I already have a smart, healthy option ready to go. These were one of the bars that my personal RD recommended for me as I worked with her over the course of a year to lose 30 pounds in a healthy way, and I truly, truly love them. This is the perfect time to try IQ Bar's ultimate sampler pack that includes brain and body boosting bars, mushroom coffees, and more. All of their products are entirely free from gluten, dairy, soy, GMOs, and artificial sweeteners. There's a reason why IQ Bar has over 15,000 five-star reviews and counting. It's because IQ bars have more fiber. Fiber is going to be the word of the day this year, I promise you guys.

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Right now, IQ Bar is offering our special podcast listeners 20% off all IQ Bar products, including the ultimate sampler pack, plus free shipping. To get your 20% off, text Liz to 64,000. Text Liz to 64000. That's Liz to 64,000. Message and data rates may apply, see terms for details. Okay, this is from M on the brain on TikTok, and she has a few points that I want to get into. Here is how I stay focused as a neuroscientist with ADHD. First thing I do every single morning is exercise and meditate. Exercise increases dopamine and neuropinephrine, which are two neurotransmitters we need for focus and motivation. Mindfulness meditation strengthens the prefrontal cortex, which improves impulse control,

and it has made the biggest difference in my ability to focus and not get distracted by all of my wandering thoughts. I'll give it an S. with an asterisk. So, a grade in theory, workout, meditate. Go tell a drowning person and go work out and meditate every day. When we are in survival mode, who can do it? I couldn't do it when I was dysregulated. So it's like in theory, great, but I'm all about reality.

I'm all about practice. So that's my asterisk. It's like, okay, but are you going to do that? Do you think it's helpful if you are kind of really struggling with this regulation with ADHD, to try to be a person who meditates and works out? Or do you think that's just like too high of a mountain to climb? You're setting yourself up for a shame spiral, et cetera, et cetera. Yeah. If you can't try and then accept whatever happens, it's going to be dysregulating. So at this point, I can like try to do stuff. And if I don't, I can really look at it curiously and go, hmm, what's that about? Why aren't I,

you know, I've really wanted to get into working out, but I'm not. Hmm. Let me explore why that is. If that's your response, that's great. You can try whatever you want. But if you are, in a place where, oh, there I go again, failing and I suck at every. This is not going to get us anywhere. What would you recommend that person do instead? I would work on nervous system regulation in the moment. This would be more, oh, let's start with when I notice I'm rushing. Can I slow down?

That would be a little bit more helpful, a little more tangible, doable than, okay, we're going to work out and meditate every morning. I mean, good luck to you. I can't do that even to this day. Or maybe even start with one. too. Like even as you said out loud, both felt really overwhelming and intimidating to me. But this year, I've gotten into a consistent workout routine in a more of a significant way than I ever have in my entire life. And now that that's done, maybe I would be able to add in meditation.

And I am experiencing so many benefits mental health-wise, physical health-wise as well, but really I work out for my mental health. And it's night and day. And so I do think getting a little bit of that reward of like, oh, I see the benefits and then that's going to make me keep doing it. And then we add in the next thing. yes, you definitely only want to do one thing at a time. Yeah. But just for those people who it's like, yeah, well, they say I should meditate and exercise. I know I should, but I'm not. That's okay. Okay. This is the next one. I also make sure I am staying extremely hydrated because research shows that even one to two percent body water loss can lead to cognitive impairments. Being really hydrated also increases alertness, which helps focus. I'll give that a B. I think that's everyone should be

hydrated. That's good advice. I don't drink enough water. That's my one thing. I probably drink too much caffeine and not enough water. It is leaning a little bit to the like wellness culture where I hear, oh, this supplement's going to change. I'm sorry, but there is no one small thing that's going to profoundly affect things. All those things stacked up. I think can be like icing on the cake, but to put all your eggs in that basket might be a little much. And it feels like a small, easy task. If I'm feeling not great right now, could I just go drink a glass of water? Exactly.

And I think there's something like low hanging fruity about that. Like there's almost this idea of, I think sometimes we're reaching for these really high, crazy things and we're like, oh, should I be trying this supplement? Should I be overhauling my diet, whatever? But you say we're animals all the time. But like also I think of us like little plants. And like, are we getting sunshine? Are we getting good nutrients?

Are we watering ourselves regularly? I don't think plants sleep. we taking care of the basics and that will help us feel better. Yes, absolutely. But can I break that down? Yeah. It's like, oh, should I eat well? Are you eating at all? Are you eating breakfast, lunch and dinner? Let's start there. Like going from zero to a hundred. And you're just like, can we rev up? Can we rev up throughout this journey? I guess it is all or nothing where you're like, I'm not drinking any water so you could get that like giant jug and you're like, I'm going to drink all of this water every single day. And it's like, could you drink a glass? Yeah. Could you drink a glass

of water. Exactly. So yes, using these tips and hacks as like small next steps, I think is great. Okay. I want the next one to be asked here because of my personal addiction. So we'll see what you think. A really big hack that I've discovered is mixing L-theonine with caffeine. Research shows that L-theonine and caffeine combination helps people with ADHD specifically with sustained focus and attention. L-theonine occurs naturally in macha or I will put it straight into my coffee. Macha is Is matcha S-tier for ADHD? Sure, we'll put it there just for your enjoyment. I know she's talking about some combinations, but caffeine is a stimulant.

That's what ADHD medication is. So it can absolutely be helpful. We can also tip us over into being more disregulating and add to that rushing and frantic energy. So maybe we knock it down to like A. I love mashup for some ears. I mean, I could just like stop the podcast and I could just talk about how much I love much for a while. But it does have L-thianine, which is calming.

And then that's in addition to the caffeine, which is more. stimulating, but you're getting the whole tea plant, which you're consuming as a whole versus steeping it, which makes the caffeine release more slowly into your system. So that's why I do think it is like a little bit of a magic stimulant. Yes. So I could see the research being like, this is good for ADHD. Yeah. It's more regulating, right? So instead of a burst or intensity, it's kind of balancing it out in that. It absolutely is best for ADHD. Okay. So we'll give it an A. Okay, we have two more. This is a very rich video. And last, but certainly not least, is to be extremely structured. I am always using my calendar and scheduling out my days down to the hour.

Using your calendar being extremely structured, scheduling your days out down to the hour. How do we rank that? I'm going to give that a D because the rigidity is going to add to our all or nothing thinking. And I know for many people listening, they're like, yeah, that works until it doesn't. The second you mess up one of the things mess up, the second you don't do one of those things on your calendar. Are you going, throw this thing out, screw it, unless you can be flexible and accept, oh, that didn't get done. Oh, well, then it's useless. So we want to be more flexible and that flexibility is so good for ADHD because we often are all or nothing thinkers because when a brain is in fight or flight, we actually don't perceive nuance. So we see things in black and white.

If you are super rigid and you're like, I'm not allowed to go out of these lines, that's going to be very hard. You're going to, first of all, be very anxious and intense when you're in it and then when you fall off of it and you will because there's no human being is going to keep up with that seven days a week. What happens then? Are we then throwing in the towel because that doesn't work? So how do we balance being more nuanced and getting done the things that we need to get done on a daily basis? We obviously have the things in our calendar that are timely. Like, oh, I have a call at 10. Okay. Put in the things that have an actual time slot. And then, oh, if I have a big break in between, well, what would the priority be in that time? And it might be,

write a substack article. But it's not rigid. It's not, I have to finish it in this time. It's not, I must do this thing where I'm bad. So it's the flexibility with a little bit of prioritization in there, which I know can be hard for ADHD years. But that also comes when we're dysregulated and everything's so intense, that's going to be harder. So marrying both. Of course, we're still going to have a calendar and still prioritize, but is there also flexibility and real life baked in? Do you schedule fun things? like read a book during this time, whatever, or will you just go with the flow on that? I won't schedule that, but of course I'll schedule things like get-togethers with friends or if I'm going to go play tennis, something like that. But if I do have time, I do usually have some go-to things,

like lay outside and read a book or even watch some TV or go to the thrift store. So I have my kind of set of things that I like to do. Your joy inducers. And that is something that I see online a lot is having these menus for things that bring you joy or dopamine or things like that are really helpful for people with ADHD? What do we think of that? I think it's good, but like anything, I don't like to get too rigid or too reliant on any external tool, but if those are going to be handy, there's nothing wrong with that. What's your best advice to help people with ADHD prioritize? It is to realize that prioritization can only happen in action. So you can't make a list of priorities because if you don't do them, you've just made a list. So realizing, okay, I'm prioritizing once I'm taking action. So if you're doing the laundry,

that's your priority. How do I know? Because that's what you're doing. You're saying that's the most important thing right now because I'm doing it. So we just want to be aware that, okay, list making, excessive list making, writing it down five times is not prioritization. And that's okay. We just need to know, okay, time to prioritize. What am I actually going to do? And that's how we prioritize. Okay, this is the last one from her. Last thing is to save your carbohydrate consumption until later in the day. They boost serotonin, which slows us down in refined carbs, spike glucose. both levels, which is not good for sustained focus or attention. I'll give that one a C. Maybe it's helpful for some people. I eat oatmeal every single morning. That's not necessarily refined.

But everyone's body is really different. So I think it's all about, are you eating regularly? Not eating is going to be dysregulating and it's going to put the body in a fight or flight state. So as long as you're eating something, that's step one, if you can eat nutrient dense things, that's great. I do think protein is great, but to like limit carbs at certain times, I don't know if that's like the first order of business. The not eating is interesting. When I was doing research for this episode, I found a lot of posts from people who are like stuck in this dance of like, I don't have energy so I should eat something, but I don't have

the energy to figure out what I should eat or make it. And they're just like really stuck in the cycle. What do you suggest people do when they feel like that? Well, we could see is there all or nothing thinking there. It's like, well, I should make a really healthy breakfast and you have a protein bar nearby. Something is better than nothing. Okay. This was in a TikTok comment, but Ikeira said that she punishes herself with the big light.

So there's like the cute lamps around your room and then there's the big overhead light. And she said the big light stays on until she finishes the thing that she needs to do. Where do you rank punishing yourself with things like big lights? That's going to get an F. Okay. We are grownups. We do not have to treat ourselves like kids who are in trouble. And when we do, we are furthering that dysregulation.

So if you feel like a kid that's always about to get in trouble, you are in fight or flight, especially when you are an adult. So when you realize, wow, I'm an adult, I don't have to manage myself by bad. That's going to make it worse. And it's going to put us more into that freeze, into overwhelm, backing up and getting really rigid as opposed to, oh, loosening up and feeling good and confident and calm. That's going to be a much better way. I love the big light thing. It definitely is a punishment.

definitely is a punishment. I'm like, turn the big light off, girl. Okay, this is from Brett, the odd HD boss, like AUD, says people with ADHD need a really slow morning routine. ADHD brains thrive with a slower morning routine. With our executive function, with the way we start, with how we need dopamine, when we wake up first thing in the morning, we can't just leap out of bed. We can't just get up out of bed and just start our day. That's not how our brains work. We need a slower routine. We're looking for dopamine. So there's always this terrible advice out there, which I'm going to repeat, and then I'm going to hack it for you.

The terrible advice is always, if you want to be more successful, get up earlier in the day. I know that. We've all heard that. Here's why that terrible advice can actually be hacked. Don't set an expectation that you can get out of bed and immediately start your day. You can't. Wake up, then stay in bed. The more you can kind of lean into, well, what do I need in the morning to get my brain engaged?

What do I need in the morning to get myself started in the day to wake my brain up? Take a slow routine to your morning. Do whatever that is for you to get your slow routine going to start your morning. You have to give yourself the extra time at the front end of it or else you're just going to stress yourself out. A with an asterisk again. So slow, love that. When we are rushing, we're dysregulated, blood flow leaves the brain, we get overwhelmed, we get stuck. Slow I love.

But I don't love the part where he's like, we can't judge. Just wake up. It's like instant limitation. Okay, I can't get out of bed. I have to lay in bed. I don't know if that's the answer because we can get stuck. But I do believe in the slowness of it. I'm not hopping out of bed and rushing and get everything done and leaving out the door

in 10 minutes. I absolutely agree with that part. Why is the limitation bad? Because if you do not believe you can get up, you never will. Just because why would you? You go, oh, that's a limitation of mine. Okay, I'm not even going to try to challenge that. try to set a new way of doing things. I'm not going to explore. Well, what keeps me stuck in bed?

Because I really love the idea of a slow morning, but with some momentum. I don't think laying in bed for an hour would constitute as a slow morning, but it might be, like it up, make a dress. Okay, I'm going to go wake up my kids. This is my morning. Okay, guys, time to wake up. And I might go sit at my vanity. I got a vanity so I could sit and it be nice and relaxing instead of standing at the bathroom counter, do my makeup, get ready. We all go downstairs, make the oatmeal. That's lovely. I love that slow cadence. But I think the laying in bed and just knowing I can't get up when I wake up, I don't know about that. Do you think a lot of the ADHD advice online ends up limiting people in their beliefs of what's possible for themselves? Yes, I do. If I look at content online, the what I call

commiseration content. Like, isn't it hard? Isn't it so bad? So many likes. So popular. But if I post stuff about like, hey, here's how we can help this, much less popular. Because if it soothes my dysregulation when I go, yeah, it's really hard and there's nothing I can do about it. You're right. Now I feel better. But only for a moment. This doesn't feel good in the long run when you're stuck in paralysis or when you're really struggling. So I do think it limits us. I think there's a place for it. I think some of the language can, oh, I feel seen, I feel understood. Okay, but now what? Are we going to work to make it better?

Or is this what we're stuck with? And I don't believe that to be the case. Super Skills ADHD on Instagram recommends starting a task in the wrong room. If you can't get started, change locations, write emails in the kitchen, sort bills in the hallway, open the laptop on the floor. ADHD brains link spaces to habits. And if a space feels stuck, the task stalls too. A new room provides a new mental cue. How do we rank starting tasks in the wrong?

wrong room. I'll give that a B. That might be a fun thing to play with. I do think if a room is like disregulating for you, like say in your office, I'm already thinking about all the projects I have to do in the day. Yeah, it's maybe we've connected too much of that space to like fear. So I do think, oh, I'm going to work from the kitchen today. Maybe that will notice that's actually quite regulating because I'm not in that place with all those connotations, but we can heal that and we can get that office feeling safer again. I'll also add since I'm doing a bunch of research on novelty and conducting a study on novelty for my new book, that simply being in a different environment forces your brain to make different connections instantly. Like we think of neuroplasticity

is something that kind of like happens or doesn't happen, but actually our brain is rewiring and wiring itself as I am talking. It is rewiring itself. So switching to a different room is going to form new neural connections, which is going to make you think differently. So if you're stuck on something, switching locations should help from a neuro-neurological perspective. I love that. Okay, staff pace on Instagram says, I only own one type of sock. Seven years ago, I threw away every mismatch pair and bought 15 of the exact same ones. Grab any two and go. Matching socks equals pain.

If a system requires too many micro decisions, remove them. Where do we rank getting rid of micro decisions? I'll give that an S. I will. That's just helpful, right? You do it once. This isn't something I have to trick myself with all the time. I replace the socks.

Now I just have to grab two. I just go mismatched. But I do too. My friend was just making fun of that me for that yesterday. I was like on the street, I had my mismatch socks because we're going to meet at the gym and I had my sandals on. And she's like Liz Moody in the wild with her mismatched sacks. Yes. But I do like that hates. It solves a little problem. Are there other micro decisions that you've seen clients have a lot of success with getting rid of? I do think simplifying those tools. Like I have one calendar. That helps a lot. What notebook should I use? Where should I put this in all my lists? If you only have one place to put it, that really helps. Or like I spent years looking for like the perfect. planner and it's like maybe you just start with the notebook you already have and see how far you can get with that and then you'll as you use it maybe figure out what you need i'm same with like organizing apps all of that i'm always looking for the perfect one yes and you're like just start with what you have absolutely yes i will say the paper calendar i use just has monday to friday with the day and the time do you bring it with you when you travel yeah it's like a planner like a notebook thing

interesting can you give us one piece of s tier ADHD advice and one piece of f to your ADHD advice that we hear commonly? The top S would be become aware of your dysregulation. What does that feel like? Am I tense? Is my stomach and knots? Am I feeling anxious? Am I breathing shallow?

I'm dysregulated and really work on, oh, can I soften that? Can I interrupt it? Can I slow down when I'm rushing? Can I take a deep breath when I'm overwhelmed? That signaling to your nervous system that you're safe is really going to change a lot, including your ADHD symptoms. F would be just don't sit down. I hear that one a lot.

If you just don't sit down, you won't stop. But that reinforces this idea that you can only be on or you're crashed. And yes, I get that it's kind of true in the short term. And so we go, I have a lot of evidence, though, that that's true. And if I sit down, I will not be able to get back up. But if we keep solidifying that cycle, it will always be true. So we can rewire that where we're more flexible. Oh, I can do a little bit of work.

then I can have a coffee, then I can do a little bit of work, then I can go take my lunch break, and that's going to provide a lot more of a regulated and sustainable life. What's one thing that you think the internet is just universally getting wrong about ADHD? The symptoms are because of the ADHD brain. They are not because we are in fight or flight. If it's not because of my ADHD and I have ADHD, what is my ADHD causing then? When we're different, and the ADHD brain is just a different type of brain, You're neurodivergent person living in a neurotypical world.

You're just going to have a lot of these little pokes of, oh, I did that wrong. I was late for that. I forgot that thing. And that will put our nervous system on the defense. And then when we are on that defense, we start to get these symptoms of fight, flight, freeze, fawn, the paralysis, the frantic energy, the avoidance. And because many of us have been in that state since childhood, we just think, oh, that's just my ADHD. And then we've kind of put those together. The difference of the ADHD brain being in fight or flight.

now we've called this ADHD. And so we believe that's just how it is. All I can do is coat. But I haven't, I've seen that not to be the case. We can absolutely separate the two. Get the fighter flight at least lowered and the ADHD symptoms will go away down. And you're still going to have some little things to contend with. But I've had clients who said like I think 75% of what I was dealing with is gone.

Amazing. Well, thank you. Jenna, can you tell us a little bit in your own words about your book and where people can find you? Absolutely. So it's called the simple guide to ADHD regulation. this is the approach to get your ADHD brain out of fight or flight to lower symptoms, increase executive functioning, and make life more enjoyable. You can find me at jennifree.com or on social media at ADHD with jennifree.

Amazing. Thank you so much, Jenna. Thank you. This was part of our ranking advice from the internet series. We have a therapy one. We have a gut health one. We have a nutrition one. We have a lot more.

So definitely scroll back. So you do not miss out on any of those. They're really fun episodes. And if you want to hear more from Jenna, we have a long episode. where she gets into exactly how she treats ADHD, and she has wild success with thousands of clients who have not been helped by anything else. So I will link that episode for you in the show notes. Okay, I love you, and I will see you on the next episode of the Liz Moody podcast. Oh, just one more thing. It's the legal language. This podcast is presented solely for educational

and entertainment purposes. It is not intended as a substitute for the advice of a physician, a psychotherapist, or any other qualified professional. I very rarely get genuinely excited about skincare, but this is one of the most innovative products that I have come across in years, and I am so obsessed with it. I've been telling all of my friends to get it, so now I need to tell you guys. Here's some science first. Your skin isn't just getting older. It's being actively broken down by something called senescent cells. These are cells that have stopped functioning but refuse to die.

They sit there, releasing inflammatory signals, breaking down your collagen, degrading your skin barrier, and accelerating every visit. sign of aging. Scientists call them zombie cells and as they accumulate, they are one of the primary drivers of how old your skin looks and feels. The team at one skin, a group of female longevity researchers and PhDs, spent five years testing over 900 peptides to figure out how to help reduce the accumulation of senescent cells. And they finally landed on it. OSO1, the first peptide scientifically studied to reduce skin's biological age at the molecular level. OSO1 goes in and it clears out the senescent cells so it helps skin function like healthier, younger looking skin. It is not masking the signs of aging. It's not targeting one thing.

It is actually rolling the clock back at a cellular level. I've been using the face moisturizer for almost six months now and I love it so much. It feels amazing. It goes on really smoothly. It's not tacky at all. And I actually see a difference, which I just feel like is never the case with skincare. You want to always like see a real difference and you're kind of like, do, do I? Do I? And this I genuinely do. Because it's clearing the senescent cells, it doesn't just target one thing. So my skin looks firmer. It looks glowier. The texture feels dramatically smoother. And I feel like you can see that too. I also love the body moisturizer. It dries down really quickly, which is always a pet peeve of mine with moisturizers. I hate that like sticky feeling when you go to

put your clothes on. This does not do that. But it does moisturize really, really. well. And then again, I'm reducing my skin's biological age. I am not making it just look younger. I am making it actually younger. One Skin has four peer-reviewed clinical studies in over 10,000 5-star reviews. The data backs everything up. For a limited time, get 15% off with code Liz at oneskin.co slash Liz. Again, that's 15% off at oneskin.co with code Liz. You've probably seen red light everywhere lately and honestly I was very skeptical of it. Like, how can one thing help hair growth and skin and period cramps and thyroid health and energy? So I brought Dr. Vivian Chen, who is the founder of Loombox, onto the podcast, and she finally explained the science in a way that made it all make sense.

The short version, Red Light targets your mitochondria, which are the powerhouses of your cells. So it literally gives your cells more energy to repair, regenerate, and function better. That's why you get these localized benefits like less knee pain or better scanner, calm or stomach and more systemic energy. In fact, there are over a thousand studies showing benefits from quicker COVID recovery times to healthier thyroid function, to less depression and anxiety, to better joint pain, to skin health and hair health and scalp health, and all of these things because the red lights work on the mitochondria in the different places that you put it, and then it's also going to work on your body as a whole. Dr. Vivian gifted me her red light,

and I dove into the research around it, and then Zach and I both try to for over six months, and I loved it so much that I literally begged her to become a podcast partner so that I could get a discount code for you. I have been gifted so many red lights over the years. It is a perk of this job, and this is the only one that I feel like actually helps with those deeper issues. That's because it has something that is called higher irradiance, which is essentially the dose, and a metric that a lot of red light companies do not even disclose. And also it uses red light, which helps with the surface stuff like your skin and stuff like that and near infrared light, which is going to penetrate deeper into your cells. You just put it over

whatever area you want to target. So I'll put it over my lower belly to help with period cramps. And it makes a huge difference. I use it for headaches. So I'll like put it over my head. And it makes them basically go away. It's amazing. Or I'll just sit with my loombox during a short meditation or breathwork for mitochondrial support and having it like on my skin on my face. I've gotten a lot of compliments on my skin health recently. And I fully give Loombox a lot of credit for that. Loombox is third party tested for radiance. Remember, that is the dose. That is the thing that most red light companies are not even testing for,

much less disclosing, which is crazy. It's also third party tested for wavelength and it's FDA registered, which is so, so rare. I think of a lot of red lights is more like beauty gadgets, and then this is more like a medical device that can also be used for all the beauty purposes, too. Plus, it's portable, so you can use it anywhere on your body, and you can also, like, take it on vacation with you. Now is the perfect time to try Loombox. You can use my link for 40% off. Just head to The Loombox.com slash Liz.

That is The Loombox.com slash Liz for 40% off.